Thursday, March 22, 2012

Dispatches from the field: Baja California, Pt. 7


So we continued more or less where we left the previous day. We set out to establish the limits of the bone concentration, getting it ready for jacketing.
This is the bone concentration that we jacketed latter that day. They're mostly sirenian ribs, but there's also a humerus (you can see it towards the center of the block).

Among the most interesting fossils that we found in the bone bed this day was this fragment of baleen whale mandible. More specifically it seems to be that of a herpetocetine, an extinct group of (somewhat small) baleen whales. 

Ehecatl, Gerardo and Daryl dig out smaller isolated bones from the bonebed while Fernando and Larry begin jacketing the block with the bones (seen above).

The view from where we were staying. If you click on the picture you can spot the jacket (towards the center left). Tomorrow we'll remove it and wrap things up.


For past entries of this series:







Dispatches from the field: Baja California, Pt. 6

Fieldwork in Baja California was made possible through an NSF EAR grant to D. P. Domning & L. G. Barnes. The text in these posts reflect my own opinion and not those of the granting agency or institutions to which I’m affiliated.

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