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Fossil extraction began Thursday morning at CMC

Posted at 7:55 AM, Sep 19, 2019
and last updated 2019-09-19 07:55:15-04

CINCINNATI — Scientists started work Thursday morning to remove a fossil from rock and its "field jacket" at the Cincinnati Museum Center.

Paleontologists and other volunteers are working to extract the skull of a triceratops, which was found during a dig in Montana back in 2015.

"It's almost complete," Glenn Storrs, the associate vice president for science and research at the CMC, said. "Interestingly, one of the horns is complete, one of the brow horns. The second one was broken before it was buried. It'll be interesting to know how that happened. Maybe in combat with tyrannosaurus or something like that."

After it was found, the stone containing the fossil was wrapped in plaster and toilet paper, forming the field jacket, so it could be stored and transported safely.

Visitors to the museum center can watch the extraction process from the paleontology lab's large viewing window near CMC's Dinosaur Hall.