Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Frankie, and Gerald went back to the flats. There, we selected a 120-
foot-by-90-foot rectangular area and marked all the enclosed egg
clusters with colored balloons, which proved slightly difficult
because, although some of the clutches were easy to identify, others
had almost completely weathered away. To make sure that a clutch
was actually present, we decided to mark only clusters that con-
tained remnants of eggshells arranged in a circle and imbedded ver-
tically in the ground. Using a tape measure, we divided the selected
area into squares that were thirty feet on a side, thereby creating a
gigantic grid. Then, we once again plotted the precise position of
each of the egg clusters within the squares. When the grid was con-
structed and the clutches marked, the green and blue balloons cre-
ated a rather surreal scene across the naked landscape of the
Patagonian desert, as if we had created a monumental work of art
worthy of Christo. We humorously reflected on how we should sub-
mit a grant to the National Endowment for the Arts to raise addi-
tional funds for the project.
By March 14, Rodolfo had returned. He and his crew now faced a
pressing problem: we had to get the skeleton out of the ground
before the field season ended, and we had only two weeks to do it. This
work would involve several phases. First, we would have to remove the
rocks overlying the skeleton and open up a large quarry to have suffi-
cient space to work. Then, trenches would have to be excavated
around the skeleton. Because the skeleton was too large to be lifted out
of the ground as a whole, we had to decide where to cut between the
bones so that it could be divided into smaller, more manageable
blocks. But before these blocks could be cut and lifted, the skeleton
would have to be covered with toilet tissue and plaster bandages to
form a protective covering and reinforced with sturdy wooden struts
to hold it together and support it during the trip back to the museum.
Once this was completed, we would have to define the different
blocks by cutting through the rocks and, unfortunately, through
some of the bones. Then all of the blocks would have to be undercut
so plaster bandages could be attached to the undersides. These ban-
dages would keep dirt and fossils from falling out of the plaster jack-
ets when they were flipped over in the quarry so that the bottoms of
the blocks could be jacketed. Finally, we would have to build wooden
pallets for the blocks to sit on and find a crane to take them from the
