A Dinosaur So Well Preserved It Looks Like a Statue
> Those hands belonged to technician Mark Mitchell, who compares the process of separating dinosaur from rock to chipping concrete chunks from a surface as soft as compressed talcum powder. It took him 7,000 hours over 5.5 years, during which he did little else. For that reason, the dinosaur carries his name—Borealopelta markmitchelli. (The first half comes from the Latin for “northern shield.”)So basically, preparing a fossil is rather like sculpting a statue. The outline is there, but following it isn't so trivial.