The Dino Project

Between 2005 and 2008 a small group of scientists from the Natural History Museum of Brunswick undertook four trips to the Republic of Niger in Western Africa. The group was led by Prof. Dr. Ulrich Joger and Dr. Ralf Kosma and their aim was to find dinosaur fossils and to extract them from the soil. The scientists had to deal with a number of adversities, like a rebellion, illnesses, lack of water and of course the burning heat; but finally some fossils were found and could be extracted. They turned out to be two completely new kinds of dinosaur. Thus the dig of the Brunswick team became the first successful German dinosaur excavation dig in Africa in 100 years.

Prof. Joger discovered a bone-coloured roundish object on the surface. When he started to dig deeper he discovered a complete thigh bone with a length of 133 cm. Right next to it, a shoulder blade of 132 cm was discovered. Furthermore, the team found a vertebra. This was connected to other vertebra and eventually a complete spine was excavated. The soil which embedded the bones was hard but brittle clay and sandstone.

Back in Germany, the museum's director Prof. Dr. Ulrich Joger started the proceedings to get an official permission for the excavation of the finds and the transport to Germany. Permission was granted in the autumn of 2006, and a pre-expedition to the excavation site left Germany in November 2006. The skeleton was as it had been left after the first expedition. About one kilometer away from the site another discovery was made – tracks of Dromaeosauridae (Raptors) were found over a length of 40 metres. The first evidence of raptors in Africa! These tracks were described as Paravipus didactyloides in 2011.

After receiving the official permission for the excavation and the required sponsorship, the first excavation expedition took place in March and April of 2007 in the Republic of Niger. Almost the entire equipment had to be brought to Africa from Germany. Two large transport vehicles packed with medicines, repair materials for the cars, glue and hardener, and other equipment needed for the excavation of fossils and the well-being of the team started on their way to Africa.

The expedition team split up, a number of people flew to Africa; however five people, including Prof. Joger drove to Africa with the off-road expedition trucks. The way through central Sahara was not an option though; terrorist attacks led to a ban on the area. So they had to take the long way, 10000 km through Spain, Morocco, Mauritania and Mali to Niger. 

The half of the team that took the plane to reach Africa, together with Dr. Ralf Kosma, landed in the Republic of Niger on 12th March 2007. Permission to excavate was granted on 15th March 2007. The team left for the excavation site full of anticipation. The next day they visited the excavation site. However, the dinosaur skeleton was gone. The team found evidence of a professional excavation. Someone else had dug out the Brunswick dinosaur and taken it away. The team was distraught. Were all their struggles for nothing?

Scientist secured and filled in the numerous cuts and breaks in the ancient fossils. The surface of the bones was partly porose and had to be treated and hardened. Afterwards the hardened bones were covered in aluminium foil to stop the plaster from entering the bones. Plastering was done by dipping jute cloths in plaster and then putting the cloths on the bones. Depending on the fragility of the bones, this process was repeated numerous times. Once the plaster had hardened the bone was carefully loosened from the stone and the plastering process was repeated with the under side of the bone fragment. Finally the bones were numbered to make sure that they could be put together in the right order after transport was completed.

The raptor tracks that were found in November 2006 had to be saved as well. These tracks proofed for the first time the existence of these raptors in Africa. Cutting out the footprints and transporting them to Germany would have been a costly and destructive method, however. Furthermore not all footprints could have been saved that way. So the team decided to cast 7 metres of the prints in mould. To do this the scientists firstly formed a 10 cm high plaster wall. Once this was dry the liquid silicone could be poured in. However, due to the high humidity the silicone had not hardened by the time of departure, so the team decided to leave it in place until the next year.

Once the bones had reached Braunschweig the preparators used a gentle method to free the bones from the plaster. Afterwards the surface of the bones was cleaned from any sedimentary rock that was still attached with help of an pneumatic engraving pen. After that, any bone fragments that had broken off could be glued back on and the glue joints were rubbed away. Missing parts were filled in with spattling compound.

Afterwards all bones and bone fragments were hardened with a special hardener to conserve them and protect them form further decay. The true significance of the Braunschweig expedition was actually only discovered during the preparation phase, which took about two and a half years: The sauropod belonged to an undiscovered species.

In 2008, during the last excavation expedition of the museum (so far) the excavation team found the Jobaria bones just had they had left them 11 months previously. The recovery could now be completed: the soil layers were removed with the help of a drill hammer to reach the skeleton at the foot of the hill.

In 2008, the silicone mould that had been left on the third expedition in 2007 to save the raptor tracks, was finally dry. The mould could be loosened carefully by the scientists: the result was a splendid series of footprints. The complete tracks were outlined with chalk, photographed and then the entire series of tracks (60sqm) was traced with a water-proof pen on transparency.