Big Sky Fossils

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Big Sky Fossils

I hunt, prepare, and restore fossils of all kinds. Got a fossil in need of TLC? Hit me up!
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11/25/2024

Meet Hank.

Hank is a partial hadrosaur skeleton that I’ve been working on for the last several months alongside my client projects. He was found by Loren Gurche and David Burnham several years ago in the Hell Creek Formation of Montana, and was excavated with the help of Clayton Phipps.

This project is a special one, not only because it’s the first, articulated dinosaur I’ve ever prepared, but also because of the remarkable story of resilience that it appears to tell. It’s definitely not your average hadrosaur.

I can’t wait to share more about what makes Hank so unusual as I continue the preparation process and research how he came to be the way he is. Stay tuned! It’s going to get weird!

11/18/2024

Check out this massive T.rex foot claw! Looking forward to restoring this monster.

11/01/2024

I always knew Columbian Mammoths were enormous, but standing next to this femur really puts things into perspective! After several days of reassembling this monster bone, it’s now time for some minor restoration.🦣

Columbian mammoths lived in North America during the Pleistocene epoch, and existed until around 11,000 years ago. These giants could grow as tall as 13ft at the shoulder!

This bone was found by my client in South Texas along with some very cool, additional material that I will soon be working on as well. As always, this post was made with their permission. 🙂

10/24/2024

I recently restored the tip on this whopping rex tooth for Clayton Phipps. 🦖 Matching the color, texture and serrations on big rex teeth like this is really challenging and meticulous work, but it gets a little easier every time. This one might be my favorite so far.

09/26/2024

Very exciting stuff in the works! This hadrosaur vertebra is one piece of a much larger puzzle currently being CT-scanned by the generous faculty and students at the Anderson Biological Laboratories at Rice University! Can’t wait to share more!!

09/11/2024

Had a great day digging in the dirt yesterday! Found a complete triceratops dorsal vertebra with all of its processes. One of my best finds for sure! Can’t wait to see what the new day brings.

09/09/2024

Do my eyes deceive me or is this a fossilized cactus?? 🌵

This awesome specimen is part of an invertebrate collection that was generously given to me by and his wife, Sibi, a few months ago. Found several decades ago near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia while they were both professors at the time.

Any paleobotanists out there want to weigh in? Would love to hear people’s thoughts! Photoshopped the last photo for fun. 🪴

07/29/2024

Check out this little beauty! A friend of mine gave me a handful of chert nodules from the Beaumont formation of TX to work on for fun. I was prepping one of them this weekend when I noticed a pair of feisty little eyes beginning to emerge from the matrix. I’m no expert on the Beaumont formation, but I know a spider crab when I see one. 🦀

You can see the nodule in the second photo. Looks pretty unremarkable considering what it held inside!

07/25/2024

Check out the dramatic feeding marks on this partial, Triceratops horn! The erratic lines and puncture marks remind me of characters from a dead language. Maybe someone was trying to send a message to the future. 📝🦖

In all seriousness though, there are a lot of amazing things about these predation marks like how cleanly they cut through the bone and how erratically they zigzag across its surface. I’ve highlighted them in red in the second photo. (A few of these may be natural blood grooves, but the large majority are not).

I’ve heard it speculated that theropods like T.rex may have gnawed on bones with low-nutritious value similar to how dogs gnaw on deer antlers. Definitely a cool theory!

EDIT: According to a friend, these are trace feeding marks from an insect! You learn something new every day! 🐌

07/16/2024

After 7 days with no power, it felt great to finally get back to work in my lab today! I’ve never been so happy to fire up an air compressor…

P.S. If you dig puzzles and you like the Triceratops on my wall, check out He’s got some of the most creative puzzles I’ve seen in a while!

07/11/2024

Day 3 without power. Fortunately, my parents have a generator!

My dad has been generously sharing the kitchen table as a workspace. Unfortunately, the ground sloth ulna I’m working on takes up a little more space than his MacBook...

07/09/2024

Hurricane Beryl took out the electricity and a couple of trees, but we’re safe (and so are the fossils)! Cell service is spotty, so if you’ve been trying to reach me, just know I’ll be in touch!

06/28/2024

Restoring serrations on some big ol’ T.rex teeth today! Tedious work, but satisfying.

A few more refinements and these will be ready to paint! 🦖🎨

06/12/2024

I was removing matrix from the jacket of a partial hadrosaur skeleton with the help of , when this amazing patch of hadrosaur skin popped right out of the dirt in front of me. It was free-floating in the jacket and not attached to bone. The preservation and detail are downright stunning, and it’s easily one of the coolest fossils I’ve ever uncovered!

06/10/2024

You know you’re digging with Clayton Phipps when you’ve only just taken down your shelf and he’s already found a huge Triceratops scapula! 😂

05/24/2024

Happy Friday! I’ve added a fun, new shirt to my online store! The dinosaurs on the back all come from places across the US! 🦖

These shirts are premium quality and available in three different styles including one for kids!
Check out Bigskyfossils-shop.com

05/15/2024

Finally got a 3D printer, and I’m obsessed!! I’ve wanted one for such a long time.

I’m hoping to use it to print small, 3D, skulls and skeletal models that I can reference for restoration work. It’s super easy to use, and I was able to print this lion skull the day I got it!

Address

Houston, TX

Telephone

+12817400360

Website

http://Bigskyfossils.com/, https://instagram.com/bigskyfossils

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