For the second blog in our series introducing places, people, methods, and species important to palaeontological research at Te Papa and beyond, curators Felix Marx and Alan Tennyson, along with Researcher William Parker and Collection Manager Hazel Richards, introduce us to the new Te Papa Fossil Preparation Laboratory.
We’re very happy to introduce you to the newly installed Te Papa Fossil Preparation Laboratory! The official opening karakia was held on 20 December last year, so this facility is fresh and being put to good use in 2025. Having this space allows us to undertake new and exciting work on the palaeontological collections at Te Papa.
A fossil’s journey
You might typically think of fossils as being excavated out of the ground and then put into the displays of a museum. In fact, collecting a fossil is only the first step in preparing it for display, storage in the collections, and research.
Across Aotearoa, many fossil sites preserve mineralised bones in hard rock like limestone or sandstone. After collecting them from the field, these fossils need to be removed – or ‘prepared’ – from the rock – or ‘matrix’– that surrounds them before they can be studied. Other fossils are extremely small and are collected from the field, mixed with mud and debris.
Enter the fossil preparation laboratory! This lab now allows the palaeontological team at Te Papa to undertake preparation of globally significant fossils from NZ.
Mechanical prep – a chip off the old rock
Mechanical preparation is the physical removal of matrix from around a fossil. This is normally done using a tool called an air scribe. Powered by an air compressor, the sharp point of this tool vibrates extremely quickly – a bit like a tiny jackhammer.
With a trained and steady hand, fossils can be unveiled as the hard matrix is lifted away. It’s a loud and dusty process that the new fossil prep lab has been specifically designed for.
Acid prep – you are now dissolving the matrix
Acid preparation is the chemical removal of matrix from around a fossil. Before this process starts, any areas of exposed fossil must be protected by being painted with a specialised resin. The fossil in the matrix is then placed into a bath of weak acetic acid – basically vinegar – for a few hours. At the end of this time, the acid will have dissolved away some of the matrix to expose more of the fossil. The specimen is then cleaned and dried, and newly exposed bone coated with resin before being bathed in acid again.
This process can take many months, but is great for fossils that are too delicate to prepare mechanically or are embedded in really hard matrix that dissolves easily in acid. A fume hood and sink system allow this work to be done in our new lab.
Washing and sieving – sorting the wheat from the chaff
Isolated bones of small animals like birds and fish are sometimes found in loose sediments. We prepare such fossils by washing them on a sieve. Fine mud particles are washed away, while bones and eggshell fragments stay behind to be dried and sorted under a microscope.
This washing process is terrible for the plumbing, so the new prep lab has been designed with this work in mind: large sinks, insinkerators, and a sediment trap allow us to process large amounts of sediment without clogging the drains. This technique is essential for a fossil site that we’ll introduce in a future blog.
We hope that this summary has given you some insight into our new facility at Te Papa. We’re very excited about the discoveries that the new lab will facilitate and look forward to telling you all about them.
Thanks, very interesting.