One rare and particularly fascinating specimen that I’ve been lucky enough to work on was discovered by Jason Phipps of Cowboy Dinosaur Digs, who was kind enough to entrust it to me for preparation. The specimen is the first cervical vertebra of a Triceratops and is mostly complete but partly crushed and distorted by the weight of the sediment that accumulated above it. “Cervical Vertebrae” are the vertebrae that make up an animal’s neck, and the first cervical vertebra is the one to which the skull is attached via a ball called an Occipital Condyle, which fits into the socket-like distal end of the vertebra. This region of the bone was unfortunately damaged during its discovery as digging machinery was being used on the side of the cliff where this specimen was found.

The first cervical vertebra of Triceratops is particularly interesting, in that it is actually made up of at least three cervical vertebra that are fused together into a single structure called a “Syncervical”, giving it an appearance that is nothing short of bizarre if you happen to have an eye for skeletal anatomy. This fusion is shared by other horned Ceratopsian dinosaurs and likely evolved as a structural support to help these animals hold up their enormous, frilled heads. Specimens like this one are rare, naturally, because each individual Triceratops had only one of these bones.

Preparation of this specimen involved careful use of air scribes to chisel away the rock around the specimen, as well as the stubborn chunks of sediment that had been super-glued to the fossil during collection. This kind of work was alternated with using air abrasives to remove the lighter sediment and super glue residue. Once the specimen was cleaned, stabilizing glue was poured into smaller cracks, and sculpting resin was used to fill in a few wider, deeper cracks. A final coating of PVA applied via paintbrush was applied to further stabilize the bone and seal it against the environment, as well as give it a nicely eye-catching shine.