Paleontological research laboratory
Valerie Anders
La Tatacoa Natural History Museum has a preparation laboratory, where several processes are developed in order to prepare, maintain and obtain fossil replicas for museum exhibitions and research. The procedure, techniques and equipment allow consolidation, mechanical preparation and reconstruction of all types of fossils.
The Valerie Anders Paleontological Research Laboratory is a space at the service of researchers, students and the community that works to generate scientific knowledge.
It takes a long time and a lot of patience to get our fossils from the excavation site, buried in the ground, to being ready for display and research. The museum's fossil preparators extract the remains of ancient life from the stone matrix that has trapped them for millions of years.
Our paleontologists excavate fossils by cutting around them and taking both the fossil and the surrounding rock carefully to the museum.
The creation of the Laboratory was possible thanks to the generous donation of William and Valerie Anders, who have supported paleontological work in Colombia and in particular La Tatacoa Natural History Museum. Captain Anders is an astronaut from the Apollo 8 mission, the first to orbit the moon in 1968. Anders took the famous photograph known as "Earthrise", the first time mankind saw the planet from the moon.
El laboratorio también ha recibido el apoyo en cuanto a dotación de equipos para la preparación y el estudio de los fósiles por pare de la Universidad del Rosario y el programa Ideas para el Cambio del Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología e Innovación.
Activities
- Fossil prospecting and excavation with jacketed fossils.
- Manual and mechanical preparation of fossils.
- Production of molds and replicas.
- Specialized photography for research.
- Charts and measurements of research material.
- Illustrations and reconstructions.
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