Scientists Found a Dinosaur's Face, Complete With Its Skin

Organically Human (originally published on Futurism) ^ | July 9, 2024 | Frank Landymore

[SunkenCiv]

In 2011, archaeologists uncovered one of the most — if not the most — pristine dinosaur fossils yet: a near-whole ankylosaur, complete with its jagged spikes, most of its limbs, armor coating, and some of its guts and stomach contents. The most amazing detail, though? Its uncannily preserved face and skin.

It took Mark Mitchell, a technician at Royal Tyrell Museum, an absurd 7,000 hours and nearly six years to meticulously exhume the fossil by delicately chipping away at the surrounding stone. For his efforts, he had the newly discovered specie of nodosaur — a type of ankylosaur — named after him: Borealopelta markmitchelli...

Researchers were able to get their hands on the remarkable specimen in 2017 after Mitchell had finished preparing it, and they’ve since published a series of impressive studies.

One such study led by Caleb Brown, a curator at Royal Tyrell, examined the bone structure known as osteoderms found on ankylosaurs, which in less freakishly preserved specimens, usually fall out of place.

[Bigg Red]

Thanks.