Burke Museum Shared Fossil Preparation Techniques

Seattle researchers detailed the specialized methods used to excavate and restore 65-million-year-old dinosaur remains.

Updated on Sept. 24, 2026 in Botany

A close-up of a fossilized bone fragment on a grey laboratory workbench, surrounded by fine cleaning tools used in paleontology research. — Burke Museum researchers recently detailed the specialized cleaning and stabilization methods used to reconstruct a 20-foot hadrosaur specimen from Montana. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

The Burke Museum in Seattle recently published documentation showcasing the meticulous process of cleaning and reassembling dinosaur fossils. Staff demonstrated how they stabilize and prepare a 20-foot hadrosaur skeleton recovered from a site in Montana.

Why it matters

Understanding these extraction and assembly workflows is vital for paleontology, as they enable scientists to reconstruct ecosystems from jumbled, ancient bone beds. This effort preserves structural records of prehistoric flora and fauna that existed 65 million years ago.

The preparation process relies on manual mechanical cleaning with paintbrushes and structural reinforcement using adhesives to stabilize bones that are 65 million years old. These steps allow staff to disentangle jumbled remains and photograph them for precise anatomical mapping.

The players

Burke Museum

A Seattle-based natural history museum focused on paleontology, archaeology, and the natural evolution of the Pacific Northwest.

Kelsie Abrams

The fossil prep lab manager who has spent 16 years leading field digs and eight years managing laboratory reconstruction efforts.

The details

To prepare the fossils, staff carefully clean bone surfaces with fine-tipped paintbrushes to remove sediment. They use specialized glues to mend fractures, ensuring broken fossil fragments can be stabilized for structural reassembly. This process is essential for separating individual bones from mixed deposits, allowing the team to reconstruct a coherent skeleton from the 20-foot specimen.

65 million years ago: The hadrosaur and its surrounding swamp environment thrived.
Past 8 years: Kelsie Abrams has served as the fossil prep lab manager.
Past 16 years: Kelsie Abrams has led dinosaur dig expeditions.
September 24, 2026: The museum released videos detailing the preparation techniques.

The Tech Race

The Burke Museum paleontology laboratory continues to set a standard for publicizing fossil preparation methods, mirroring the transparency of academic labs regarding their specimen handling protocols. These documentation efforts follow an established practice of sharing technical field-to-lab methodologies with the broader research community.

Local residents and visitors can view the fossil preparation process through the museum's digital platforms, which highlight the delicate manual labor required for scientific discovery. These insights change the public understanding of how complex skeletal structures are salvaged from field sites.

The takeaway

The successful reconstruction of a 20-foot hadrosaur skeleton highlights the critical role of systematic mechanical cleaning and adhesive stabilization in paleontology. Interested observers should follow the Burke Museum's digital channels for future updates on the assembly of the Montana excavation materials.