If you’ve found a dinosaur fossil, next you need to dig it up. This is painstakingly slow process.
Most dinosaur fossils are embedded in rock. It can take many people several months to dig a large dinosaur out of the rock. Everything we know about dinosaurs, from what they looked like, to what they ate, has come from what the experts share discovered through their “digs”.
First Step: Blast Off
Many tonnes of rock may have to be blown up, or bulldozed to reach the fossil. Only the top layers of rock are blasted away, otherwise the fossil skeleton may be damaged.
Second Step: Slow But Sure
Great care must be taken to dig out the fossils without damaging them. Hammers, chisels and even dentist’s drills are used to chip away the rock that encases the bones.
Third Step: Brushwork
Soft brushes are used to clear away earth and stones. Brushes do not damage the ancient bones. Crumbly bones can be painted with special glues to harden them.
Fourth Step: Photographs
The bones must be photographed in position before being moved, to show where they were found.
Scientists can learn much about how the animal died and where it lived, from studying how it was lying, and by looking closely at the ground around it for clues.
Fifth Step: Searching For Clues
The surrounding rocks are searched for signs of bones that might have broken away from the main skeleton — or maybe another
fossil dinosaur buried nearby.
Sixth Step: Piecing Together The Jigsaw
Every fossil piece must be numbered and recorded to help the scientists reconstruct the skeleton in the
laboratory. It is slow and very painstaking work, but it is important.
Final Step: Handle With Care
Once they are out of the ground, the bones are wrapped in tissue paper, then plaster soaked bandages, or special foam jackets, that set hard to protect them on their journey to the laboratory.
Rocks And Layers
Rocks from different periods of time build up in layers with the oldest at the bottom. Fossils are buried deep in each layer: the lower the layer, the older the fossils. Fast-flowing rivers can wear rock down and expose the layers with fossils buried deep inside.
At the Grand Canyon, in the United States of America, the different rock layers are revealed in spectacular multi-coloured bands.
Important Historical Dinosaur Finds
- Megalosaurus: 1828
- Iguanodon: 1825
- Hadrosaurus: 1858
- Stegosaurus: 1877
- Diplodocus: 1878
- Triceratops: 1889
- Brachiosaurus: 1903
- Tyrannosaurus Rex: 1905
- Ankylosaurus: 1908
- Pachycephalosaurus: 1943
- Baryonyx: 1986