Our first destination on the trip was the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi Utah. I've driven past this place several times. From the outside, you'd think it was a hyped-up tourist attraction, with not a whole lot of scientific merit. Boy, was I wrong. Our host, and founder/designer/director of the museum, Cliff Miles has been pioneering recovery and restoration methods for fossil skeletal remains. We got to experience a tour of the behind-the-scenes restoration shop of the museum. In the above picture, Cliff shows us a restoration-in-progress of the neck of a barasaurus. Cliff's team pioneered the use of Bond-O in the restoration of fossils remains. (I found that fascinating. It's genius)
The above photo shows a sample being restored from out of the jacket it was transported in. Cliff explained that samples are more damaged the longer they remain in the sealed jackets. As the jacket plaster dries, it contracts and results in fracturing of whatever's inside. So his team works as fast as they can to get samples processed and out of their jackets.
A view of the Cambrian Fauna. I was impressed with the dioramas. How else could you get some visual sense of what ocean life looked like?
My reflection in a polished Banded-Iron Formation (BIF).
Archelon -massive sea turtle of the late Cretaceous.
Our first destination on the trip was the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi Utah. I've driven past this place several times. From the outside, you'd think it was a hyped-up tourist attraction, with not a whole lot of scientific merit. Boy, was I wrong. Our host, and founder/designer/director of the museum, Cliff Miles has been pioneering recovery and restoration methods for fossil skeletal remains. We got to experience a tour of the behind-the-scenes restoration shop of the museum. In the above picture, Cliff shows us a restoration-in-progress of the neck of a barasaurus. Cliff's team pioneered the use of Bond-O in the restoration of fossils remains. (I found that fascinating. It's genius)
The above photo shows a sample being restored from out of the jacket it was transported in. Cliff explained that samples are more damaged the longer they remain in the sealed jackets. As the jacket plaster dries, it contracts and results in fracturing of whatever's inside. So his team works as fast as they can to get samples processed and out of their jackets.
A view of the Cambrian Fauna. I was impressed with the dioramas. How else could you get some visual sense of what ocean life looked like?
My reflection in a polished Banded-Iron Formation (BIF).
Archelon -massive sea turtle of the late Cretaceous.
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