John J. Bannan
07-13-07, 10:55 AM
If plaster casts of people who got buried by volcanic ash 2000 years ago can be made, why not of dinosaurs who died similarly millions of years ago?
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View Full Version : A dinosaur Pompeii? John J. Bannan 07-13-07, 10:55 AM If plaster casts of people who got buried by volcanic ash 2000 years ago can be made, why not of dinosaurs who died similarly millions of years ago? orcot 07-13-07, 11:02 AM you could say that there are http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossils#Replacement_and_compression_fossils I think if not all most dinisaure bones proberly are of this category John J. Bannan 07-13-07, 11:37 AM Dinosaur bones do not preserve the shape of the body. matthyaouw 07-13-07, 12:27 PM I've had this thought myself in the past. Yes dinosaurs could have been buried in such a manner, but I'm not sure what the chances of a mould being preserved for millions of years are. I'd think the majority would either erode away, or collapse as more sediment/volcanic material accumulates on top. Its not impossible for there to be some somewhere though... John J. Bannan 07-13-07, 12:33 PM Pehaps it hasn't been found because there aren't any near the surface. pjdude1219 07-13-07, 03:37 PM what you see in mueseums are plaster casts of the fossils John J. Bannan 07-13-07, 03:46 PM Plaster casts of bones are not what I'm talking about. In Pompeii, people buried under the hot ash made an impression with their bodies that formed a cavity after their flesh deteriorated. By pouring plaster into the cavity, you could make a copy of the person's body as if with a mold. No museum has such a plaster cast of a dinosaur. tablariddim 07-13-07, 04:38 PM Pompei was excavated very carefully because archaeologists knew that there had been a major city at the site and hence the cavities were found, there would not be much reason to excavate every solidified lava formation with the same finesse, if at all. John J. Bannan 07-13-07, 04:46 PM Well, wouldn't this possibility present such a need to excavate with finesse? Has this ever been looked into? tablariddim 07-13-07, 04:52 PM Maybe they do in places where they expect to find dinosaurs. John J. Bannan 07-13-07, 04:54 PM If they ever found such a thing, don't you think you would have heard about it? darksidZz 07-13-07, 05:12 PM If they ever found such a thing, don't you think you would have heard about it? :(~~~ Xev 07-13-07, 07:34 PM Plaster casts of bones are not what I'm talking about. In Pompeii, people buried under the hot ash made an impression with their bodies that formed a cavity after their flesh deteriorated. By pouring plaster into the cavity, you could make a copy of the person's body as if with a mold. No museum has such a plaster cast of a dinosaur. Pompeii was 2000 years ago, the last dinosaurs died 65 million years ago. A lot more has happened to destroy dinosaur bones (tectonic movement, lava flows, etc) than has happened to destroy those fossils. However, there have been fossils discovered with the imprint of skin, and archaeoptryx fossils with the imprint of feathers. http://icb.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/40/4/687 http://dinobase.gly.bris.ac.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=208 |