Digging Up Dinosaurs: Modern Excavation Techniques

Discovering a dinosaur in the field is only the beginning of a long, painstaking process. From the first glimpse of bone eroding from a hillside to the fully prepared specimen on display in a museum, a major dinosaur excavation can take years or even decades of work by dozens of specialists. The methods that modern paleontologists use bear little resemblance to the hasty dynamiting of the Bone Wars era, and the scientific information extracted from a well-excavated site goes far beyond the bones themselves.

Prospecting — the search for new fossil sites — is the first challenge. Paleontologists walk slowly across badlands landscapes, scanning for bone fragments eroding from the surface. Experience is crucial: bone weathers with a distinctive texture and often a different color from the surrounding rock, and experienced prospectors can spot fragments smaller than a fingernail from several meters away. Aerial and satellite imagery is increasingly used to identify promising geological formations and landforms, and some groups use lidar — laser-based topographic scanning — to map terrain in extraordinary detail. However, boots on the ground remain irreplaceable.

Once a significant find is located, the site is carefully mapped before any excavation begins. GPS coordinates are recorded, photographs are taken from multiple angles, and a detailed map of the site is drawn. This spatial information is scientifically vital: the three-dimensional positions of bones relative to each other, and to the surrounding sediments, tell the story of how the animal died and was buried — information that cannot be recovered once the bones are removed.

Excavation proceeds with a hierarchy of tools, working from coarse to fine. Large pneumatic drills and rock saws remove bulk overburden — the rock above the fossil layer. As the bones are approached, work shifts to smaller chisels and hammers. At the bone surface itself, the tools of choice are dental picks, syringes of hardener (typically Paraloid B-72 dissolved in acetone, which consolidates fragile bone as it is exposed), and soft brushes. A skilled preparator can spend days freeing a single large bone from the surrounding matrix.

Transporting fossils from remote field sites is a logistical challenge. Large bones and fragile specimens are protected by plaster or polyurethane foam field jackets: the specimen is first covered in wet tissue paper as a separator layer, then coated in strips of burlap soaked in plaster (or modern equivalents), which harden into a rigid protective case. Once the top is jacketed, the specimen is carefully undercut and flipped, and the base is jacketed as well. Finished jackets can weigh hundreds of kilograms and may require a helicopter to remove from remote sites.

Back in the laboratory, preparation — the removal of remaining rock matrix from the fossil — is a discipline in its own right. Laboratory preparators use pneumatic air scribes, vibrating tools similar to dentist's instruments, sandblasters with fine abrasive media, and microscopes to work at millimeter or even sub-millimeter scales. CT scanning is routinely used to plan preparation, revealing the positions of bones hidden within unexcavated matrix. A large sauropod skull or a densely packed block of disarticulated small bones can take a skilled preparator years to fully prepare.

Funding is a constant challenge in paleontology. University-based researchers typically fund fieldwork through competitive government grants — in the United States, primarily from the National Science Foundation and National Geographic Society. Grant cycles, peer review, and budget constraints mean that important sites may sit partially excavated for years between funded field seasons. Some institutions rely on donations, crowdfunding, or partnerships with museums that can attract public support. The reality is that most paleontologists do far more administrative work seeking funding than they do digging in the field.