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Elevation Science Institute for Natural History Exploration

@elevationscience

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501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to paleontology, research, and hands-on science education, connecting people to discovery through science exploration.

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Happy National Fossil Day from the Paleo Lab! In case we’ve never met… my name is Katie Hunt and I am the Paleo Lab Manager for @elevationscience. I’ve been working with Elevation Science since November 2021, and we’ve been partnered with @cincymuseum to prepare fossils in their paleo lab for three years this month! Thanks to help from our volunteers, we just celebrated preparing 500 fossils in this lab!!

I wanted to make a post today to show some of the cool stuff we’ve been up to in the lab since last National Fossil Day! Swipe through to see some of we accomplished (and friends we saw along the way!) ➡️

This allosaurus femur was collected in 2025 at the SW-B site! The sandbox helps keep fossils upright while gluing them together. See the pink sand? It’s garnet! Super tiny grains and low-dust… much better than play sand!

Big! Field! Jackets! arrived from the 2025 field season!

Opening big field jackets is hard, dusty work!

Check out this geodized theropod bone!

Union Terminal looks beautiful in the snow! Did you know the paleo lab is in the Hall of Justice? That makes us superheroes, right??

Taaaadaaaaa! A spectacular project Katie prepared this past year!

Lab intern Brandan received a tour from Cameron in collections. Our first lab intern!

Tess visited to check out some skin collected at the Mother’s Day Site! Her sidekick Bucket supervises.

Field Season 2026 was a HUGE success! We collected several hundred new specimens and some of those are already being prepared in the lab! More big jackets… woohoo!

Is that a camarasaurus tooth we spy?

More theropod toes! Katie loves preparing fossils like these.

Speaking of toes… check out this delicious jacket full of sauropod toes Hannah C. discovered at the SW site this summer!

Air abrasion… Katie’s favorite lab tool!

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Heading to the Exhibit Hall at GSA Connects? Come see us at Booth 711! We are thrilled to feature Jinny Sisson, Rik Williams, and Rick Schmidt. Stop by to chat about field research, the field station, ask questions, and connect with the team during Exhibit Hall hours. We look forward to seeing you there! 🏔️🔨

Monday & Tuesday: 10:00 AM – 6:30 PM
Wednesday: 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

#GSA #YBRA #FieldStation #ExhibitHall #FieldGeology
📷 Photo curtesy of Jennifer Lindline

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Alabama Fossil Fest 2026 🤍🦈

Thanks again to my friends at the Alabama Museum of Natural History (@uamnh) for inviting me back for my 3rd year as a tabler!

I'm so proud of how the folks at this museum have evolved this event over the last few years; it just keeps getting better. Over 500 people showed up to learn about fossils!

Catch ya next year.

📸: Rebecca Johnson (@thederbykid)

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Thank you to everyone who visited “Alabama Fossil Fest” this year at the Alabama Museum of Natural History! We had a record-making 520 people in attendance! We’re grateful for our tabling partners and volunteers for your time, expertise, and dedication to this event. We hope everyone had a jaw-some time!

#UniversityOfAlabama #Fossils #MuseumsOfInstagram #NaturalHistoryMuseum

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🪏 deep joy. Uncovering fossilized foot bones from about 148 million years ago. This guy was likely an adult/near full-sized Allosaurus. @elevationscience

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A jump into the Jurassic 🦕

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I wasn’t expecting to find a home away from home in the American West with some of the most beautiful scenery, wildlife, and humans I’ve ever known. My time at @ybra1936 (Yellowstone Bighorn Research Association), “camp” (our field station), was so special. I’ll forever miss late-night chats in our cozy cabins, the longggg walk to the wash house, watching storm clouds roll over the mountains, bear and moose sightings on the regular, bonfires, sunsets, spur of the moment hikes, hunting for the prettiest rocks, home cooked meals, and warm conversations in the Fanshawe Lodge…from the first moment we arrived, @elevationscience and YBRA staff treated us like family and that’s something I will never forget.

Southern Montana, the Bighorn Basin, and our side trip to Wyoming included some of the most beautiful landscapes and creatures I’ve ever seen. Sharing what I was able to catch on camera here, but what’s engrained in my mind is so much greater. I traveled out there to find dinosaurs but found so much more🫶🏔️🥾

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it’s hard to put into words how amazing these people are

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A productive day at Mother's day ❤️ 🦕. Including skin impressions! #fossil #dinosaur #diplodocus

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don’t ask about the birthday “song”

Photo dump of week four with ESI! 🦖🦕

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For #FossilFriday this is a sauropod rib that I jacketed for @elevationscience with the honor of being evaluated by @katewhoexcavates.

Jacketing is the process of preserving fossils that have been fully exposed and excavated from rock.

It’s start with first applying a complete layer of aluminum foil and tape to prevent the specimen from sticking to the next layer to apply which is plaster-covered burlap as plaster can stick to the specimen. Before applying the burlap, plaster mix is poured into a container and mixed with water by bare hands to remove clumps and form a thick form similar to pancake batter. It is crucial to get the ratio between plaster and water as plaster quickly hardens under the basking sun. Once plaster is thick enough, strips of burlap are dipped in the plaster then layer all around the aluminum foil. When placing plaster strips, sometimes they’re placed zig-zag or back-and-forth in different directions to completely cover the aluminum foil.

Depending on the size of the fossil, multiple strips of burlap are placed not only to cover aluminum foil but to cover up plaster folds. Once enough plaster covers the aluminum foil completely, any leftover plaster is applied to smoothen the surface of the purlap before hardening.

Jacketing is of upmost importance when excavating dinosaur bones as it preserves the specimen from getting damaged when transporting from the field to the museum and makes it safe for the fossil preparator to remove in the lab.

#paleontology #dinosaurs #fossils #latejurassic #sauropod #diplodocus #morrisonformation#sciencecommunication
#scicomm #scienticoutreach #naturalhistory

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