Sara J. Mikkelson
Episode 1 of the Henslee Tylosaur Fossil project – Introduction
Hello, my name is Sara Bruegel
I’m at Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum in Crosbyton Texas
Today I’ll be showing you the Henslee Tylosaur Fossil
In front of me are the actual fossils of this creature, still in their field jackets. Later on, I’ll explain a little about what exactly a field jackets is.
Here’s a close up view of some of the fossils. Notice the yard stick I put beside it to give you an idea of about how big these fossils are. These are the vertebrae that we’re looking at here: they’re about 2 ½ – 3 inches long. You’ll also notice the ribs beside them
Behind me is a picture of what this creature might have looked like when it was alive. While we don’t know for sure, we can make some guesses based off of the bones.
Like I said earlier, this creature is a tylosaur. That is a type of mosasaur – an aquatic reptile. While most people might think of it as a dinosaur, this creature is not a dinosaur. Only land-dwelling creatures can be considered dinosaurs. This tylosaur lived in the waters.
In the book of Job the Bible talks about a creature called “Leviathan”, which could have been a tylosaur or some other similar creature.
The fossils are in field jackets. When we go and dig up fossil on a dig, we don’t just take out the actual fossil, bring it back, and put it on display. We have to dig a trench around the fossil. That dirt just around the fossil is called the matrix. So we dig a trench in the matrix, then we create a tightly fitted casing around both the bone and the matrix, using plaster and burlap.
This tylosaur was such a large fossil it had to be taken out in several different field jackets, that were later put back together in their original positions.
If you look a little closer, you cans see the difference between the gray matrix (that dirt around the fossil) and the plaster bridges made between the different field jackets.
Here are some other field jackets from different dig sites. They come in all shapes and sizes, depending on the fossil as well as the matrix – that is, the dirt around the fossil.
Over the next several months, I will be working on this project and sharing the process with you. You can subscribe to Creation Clues YouTube Channel to keep up with the progress of this project.
The Henslee Tylosaur was found near Farmersville, Texas, which is in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. It is the property of the Creation Evidence Museum in Glen Rose, Texas. Currently, I’m working on it at the Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum in Crosbyton, Texas.
I’m Sara Bruegel – writer of Creation Clues. Thank you for watching and have a blessed day!
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http://creationclues.com
Copyright Sara J. Bruegel, November 2015
