This is Throwback Thursday #31. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc ...), please sent them to [email protected]. Thanks!
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Jane was discovered during the Burpee Museum's paleontology expedition to Montana's Hell Creek Formation back in 2001. The current thinking is she's a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex. Although, when she was first presented, it was as a Nanotyrannus lancensis. Dave Carlson, who's currently our 1st Vice President, was the speaker at the ESCONI November 2002 Paleontology Study Group Meeting. Here is the how it was described on the original ESCONI website.
The Nanotyrannus Find on the Burpee 2002 Montana Expedition
Dave first showed us the tentative lineup for PaleoFest on the 22 and 23 of February. They have an all star lineup with Bob Bakker, Greg Paul, Peter Larson and Tom Carr and others. One panel talk will put Tom Carr who says Nanotyrannus is a separate species and Bob Bakker who says it is a juvenile T rex together for an interesting discussion. They hope to have some tooth analysis done by the time of the meeting for discussion. They had hoped to find a nice Triceratops to bring back to Rockford. However, the year before they had found some interesting theropod toe bones and decided to go back to that site to get some more of the animal. They stayed in Ekolaka in SE Montana near Buffalo South Dakota. Ekolaka has about 400 residents and it is not easy to get to on paved roads. They stayed at Camp Needmore (now a 4-H camp) which is south of the city. The site was west on Powderville Road on the edge of Carter County. Cell phones did work there. The land is BLM land and the Museum has permits for areas in Carter County. There is a small Carter County Museum in town where there is a hadrosaur Anatotitan on display.
Mike Henderson was there the end of May (and they had some snow) and into June and Dave went out in June. The site area is mixed badlands and grassland. They are in the middle of a terrible drought. There are tall bluffs about 200 feet high where it is very windy on top. However, it gets very hot in the lower areas. There were frequent bomber flights overhead also. At the site they took one week to remove the overburden with shovels, picks and buckets since the toe bones were found at the bottom. The hips and legs were found near the edge near the toe bones and had to be plastered to protect them while they were taking the hill down. They also found worn vertebrae and ribs. The skull was not found until July and was under areas where they had been working and walking in June. One toe bone has a curve to it and it is probably a “green stick fracture”. When it was young the bone was stressed on one side almost to the breaking point and did not break cleanly through. Tissue grew over it (called osteocondroma) and covered the bone with cartilage. The matrix is sand and mud and clay and is soft and relatively easy to clean. The toes came right out easily. The toe bone was at SVP and the experts there gave the above explanation. “Jane’s” first name was “Earl”. The age of the site is at the very end of the Cretaceous at 65 MY and is in the Hell Creek Formation. A slide of the illium showed an interesting feature. The elongated and rounded illium has support struts radiating out to the edge of the bone. Dave found a hadrosaur toe lying out on the ground. They are not sure if it is from Anatotitan but it is large. The museum fossil on display is 45 feet long so it is a big animal. The toe is white from sitting out in the sun like modern bones. They believe that “Jane” probably died, fell into a stream and washed up on a sandbar. Some elements may have washed away. They also found claws of other animals in the area. On top of one of the tall bluffs they found it covered with bones. They found a weathered dental battery that may have been from a Triceratops because there was material that looked like frill material. They found some smooth weathered bones near it that might have been gastroliths. They uncovered the lower right jaw that is missing the bones in the back of it, but with lots of teeth still in or nearby. The upper jaw was found nearby along with some ribs. They have both lower jaws. They hope that there is more of the skull in the big block. There are 15 teeth in both lower jaws and 8 premaxillary teeth (which are narrower than the lateral teeth). The first Nanotyrannus is now in the museum at Cleveland and is greatly restored and crushed. There is so much plaster that it is hard to tell if the bones are fused or not. Pete Larson made the 3 hour drive to come to the site to see “Jane’. They have the humerus that has now been prepped. The hips, legs and other bones are now in the big block that needed special equipment to get it out.
They tried to keep their find secret to prevent vandalism. But soon BLM officials showed up with their archeologist, some kids and others. They were anxious to publicize it because they were proud to have it found in their area. Dave had some photos of the bones and jackets. He works two days a week as a volunteer there. He estimates it took about 120 hours to get the jaw out. Joe Peterson did a drawing of the site showing that it is partly articulated in a typical death pose (see drawing above). They estimate that the animal was 8 feet high at the hip and about 18 feet long. They feel they have about 30-35% of the bones by count and 60-70% by mass. They hope to have the big jacket open by PaleoFest and on display. They plan to return to Montana in 2003 and are looking for diggers. Check the website for info. They already have the prepped bones on display and you can watch Dave work on Monday and Wednesdays. They are hoping to keep the prep work in-house, although The Black Hills and Paul Sereno have shown interest in doing the work. By 2005 they hope to have “Jane ‘ on display.
Juvenile T. rex fossil "Jane" with red arrow showing the anticipated infection area on the lower left foot. Burpee Museum of Natural History at Rockford, Illinois
