Jeroen's Photos

The best method of transportation at the dig site are 4-wheel or even 6-wheel all terrain vehicles.

Excavation at the stegosaurus site often continued until the sun set behind the ridges on the west side of the small valley. This photo is facing east towards the Big Horn Mountains.

Large areas of the stegosaurus are in the process of being jacketed. Often, more than one application of plaster and burlap was used to make sure the jackets were strong enough for the transport ahead.

Sometimes the stress can get to people. Jeroen is about to give Bob Simon a plaster facial.

Photo of Kirby Siber, Bob Simon and the land owner, John Ed Anderson (on the 4-wheeler). The rancher visited the site at least once a day to check on progress.

Bob Simon is resting after helping with the plaster jacketing and supports of the large jacket containing the chest of the stegosaurus.

Some jackets required wooden frames or braces, both for support and also for providing a solid base during the shipping process.

Dinosur diggers often need to have many skills. In addition to being stone masons, we often need to use carpentry skills to create support structures for oddly shaped heavy objects.

Not one of the most exciting jobs, Bob Simon is here cutting burlap into strips to be used in the plaster jacketing process.

One of the challenges is deciding how to separate sections of the dinosaur skeleton without damaging the bones. Discussions lead to0 decisions and 'break points' ar marked and the jackets ultimately separated.

Dimitri is in with the stegosaurus bones. Here he is spraying water on the rock to soften it so it can be removed safely without damaging the fragile bones.

Once a plaster jacketed bone or bones are removed, the underlying or end exposed sections are carefully stabilized so nothing is broken or lost.

This is the entrance to the Red Canyon Ranch, the locale where Dinosaur Safaris operates and Sarah the Stegosaurus was found.

Everyone (Bob, Kirby and Joroen) is smiling after a successful flipping of jacketed stegosaurus bones.

The photo says it all. Way too much sun!

Jeroen and Bob are constructing another frame for a soon-to-be very heavy plaster jacketed bones.

Jeroen and Dimitri are shown undercutting and tunneling underneath the stegosaurus chest section. Supports will be left in place until the specimen is ready for removal.

Kirby Siber is shown having just found and exposed a small neck plate from Sarah the Stegosaurus

Bob Simon and Kirby Siber at the digsite with the Big Horn Mountains in the background.

Sarah the Stegosaurus is boxed up and ready for the flight to Switzerland where she will be prepared and mounted.

Maya (one of Kirby's daughters) is in the background with Sarah the Stegosaurus about 80% exposed in the foreground.

Maya is exposing an ulna or lower arm bone of the stegosaurus. The radius, humerous and scapula had already been exposed at this point.

Some of the bones are now wrapped in aluminum foil and will soon be jacketed. The foil stops the plaster r\from adhering to the bone or rock.

Plastering of the bones has begun. Other bones are temporarily covered to prevent them from being splashed by the plaster.

Final inspection is performed on the large jakcet to make sure all is ready for the support structures and eventual lifting from its resting site.

Plaster jacketed bones are removed from the site and stabilized quickly. In some cases, the bones will receive a final jacket to cover the entire specimen.

The indispensable trackhoe operator, Richard Michelena. His careful digging with the trackhoe saved the diggin team many hours of back-breaking rock removal.

All hands are furiously at work trying to stabilize the end of a partially jacket fragile bone. All separated pieces are saved and numbered so they can ultimately be reconnected with the larger bone sections.

Not very glamorous, but a necessary job at the digsite. Bob Simon digs deeper around the stegosaurus so undercutting and tunneling can begin.

This jacket worked perfectly with all the bone being lifted from its previous resting place. The open sections are th bottom of the jacket where rock or matrix pedestals had been left to support the jacket during undercutting.

Ther trailer and the stegosaurus have traveled from Wyoming to Denver, Colorado for yet another, longer trip.

KIrby and Dimi unload sections of Sarah the Stegosaurus in Denver.

It took a trackhoe to load this plaster jacket into the trailer in Wyoming and takes a forklift to remove it from the trailer in Denver.

Not quite sitting around the campfire, but everyone needs a break from dinosaur digging now and then.