|
Home>Harvard>Projects
This is where Jim previewed his revolutionary mounting technique - no visible mounting hardware. Based on the fact that every recent dinosaur mount I’ve seen has been mounted in this style, I conclude that his method was adopted by the entire paleontology world. It was possible because of his “Attributes” and “Avocations”. That latter point can’t be over-emphasized: the fact that he was an artist, welder and machinist made it possible for him to design the whole job and after approval by Dr. Romer, mount it with Arnie Lewis and Dave Fuller.
I had the good fortune of working on the reconstruction of the skull so have first-hand memories of the entire process, who did what, where things were and so on. On the basis of that exposure, I’ve written my view of the mount, imagining the steps that dad and Arnie and Dr. Romer went through. I’m probably not completely accurate but the description fits the reality.
Only note: I’ve concealed the name of the paleontologist who botched the Kronosaurus mount in the first go round. We met several times and found it difficult to reconcile the truth about what he had done with the man, but there is no other way to explain how the skull was constructed as a bullet, inside of which the large nasal bone was concealed, which completely altered the skull, once it was dug out, and the skull was configured to accomodate it. Dr. Mr. Man has probably passed on to his reward, 40 years since my last meeting with him, but I see no reason to sully his reputation. I can’t even tell you where he worked. The remaining mystery is, “Why did a reasonable, intelligent person who knew what he was doing, do what amounts to a criminal action insofar as scientific honesty is concerned?” Expediency is the only thing that comes to mind, and that doesn’t justify it. Hee’s an article discussing how the mount was done:
Kronosaurus Queenslandicus
Here is a slide gallery of the installation of Kronosaurus:
June 8, 2005 Update:
Some parties still have not joined the move to life-like mounts, as shown by this 2005 mount of a dinosaur in Brazil:
http://news.yahoo.com/photo/050608/481/rio10506082135;_ylt=At1whuWzmHjsvOwS7jm1hydxieAA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3bGk2OHYzBHNlYwN0b XA-
This is an interesting example of a recent mount . On the one hand, the preparators did conceal the armature and supports so that none are visible. But on the other, they seem to have forgotten to put it in a realistic pose. The mount was done for the purpose of articulating the bones and applying a thin layer of muscle and skin, which is the first step, but the pose is poor. Note in the next photo that it is posed like a pointer dog that has found prey:
While a crocodile is not serpentine, it does have some curvature. Someone has also underestimated the size of the muscles that would be required for those long legs to elevate and maintain the body in this acutely extended posture.
Same for the masseters. Those “holes” immediately behind the eyes? They are covered here with “skin” which is fine, but these “holes” shouldn’t even show. (Were there no scutes?) There should be enormous enormous muscles bulging from that hole. This animal needed enormous muscles to to power the long jaw, particularly since the jaw has minimal leverage.
Same for the neck, for an animal that lunges and jerks and twists and throws its prey. What it looks like is basically a re-articulation of the bones with an application of a thin cover to fill in the spaces and complete the outline. It is as abnormal as was Dr. X’s original version of the skull of Kronosaurus, which story is told in the PDF above.
|
