Fossil Preparation - Extinct Mammal Meniscoessus robustus jaw (from the time of the T Rex)

Here's the fossil preparation of really interesting little mammal called Meniscoessus robustus. This little mammal lived during the Late Cretaceous (66 million years ago) underneath the feet of some of the most ferocious of dinosaurs like T Rex. This was found in a fossil microsite (part of an ancient riverbed) in the Hell Creek formation of Montana, US. This was a delicate little prep job as the matrix is fairly hard but the bone and teeth very fragile. Credit should be given to RJ Palmer for the reconstruction image of Meniscoessus used in the video to show what this creature might have looked like.
The main tool used during this video was a Zoic Palaeotech ZPT Microraptor which is a pneumatic airscribe dedicated to working finer details and for fragile fossils. The liquid you see being used is a consolidant called Paraloid B72 which is diluted in acetone at a 4:96 ratio. This seeps into the small fractures and really helps strength the thin fossil bone.
#fossil preparation #fossil prep #hell creek

[@TheFossilFiend]

Good prep of a nice micro fossil. Thanks for the video!

[@valiantwarrior4517]

You can find some amazing specimens in those micro river deposits, but it is often heartbreaking that they are so broken up or only small parts. Some of the amazing fossils that get exposed to the water are turned to mush very quickly, and most get dashed to bits before long. Still: if it’s a choice of finding them in that condition or not at all…

[@gatba5219]

Awesome

[@PalaeoArt]

Many thanks. It was a cool little jaw to prep.

[@gatba5219]

Always nice hearing some commentary over the prep too

[@PalaeoArt]

@@gatba5219 thanks Fred. Difficult to know the balance so I’m mixing this up a bit, some with commentary and some where I keep my gob shut!

[@loveisthekey]

good job

[@tgordon4881]

Ok a question. I've been working on my first fish preparation and have learned a lot from your videos. You use Paraloid B72 on this specimen and continue working with your air scribe. Does the B72 cause the matrix to be adhered to the actual fossil so that it is more difficult to separate the matrix?

[@raulvictor337]

We're tou find fossil? Any tip to find fossil

[@gatba5219]

Depends on what you are looking for

[@raulvictor337]

@@gatba5219 noting in specieal any fossil, the problem is : I live in the center zone of Spain and is very difficult to find old soil, I think to how to the mountain, or better in the coast?

[@gatba5219]

@@raulvictor337 Mountains and Beaches may be great places to look, where the fossils are eroding out of the rock. Where I’m from, it’s easy to find Pleistocene shells when digging in my garden, or looking along the side of the road.