Now Playing: Tricks of the Trade

Finally! We figured out how to post video. Yesterday's post showed how to make a map of a fossil site to preserve bone location information. Above, David Temple explains how to plaster jacket a bone bed in order to remove the fossils for further study at a museum.

Now that we know how, we'll post more "Tricks of the Trade" video here - so check back soon!

Updated video:

Dr. Bakker explains what you're looking for, when you're looking to find fossils, as well as what has been uncovered as a new layer in the K2 site.

In the process of digging down to the Aimee layer from the top of the hillside on Day 4, Chris discovered a Dimetrodon vertebra that had to be removed before excavation could continue. In this video, he carefully removes it from the place it's been sitting for almost 300 million years.

Making a map of our buried treasure. Kathy explains the process of mapping a bone layer, which documents exactly the way each bone was laid out in the bed, helping the team determine how each of the bones relates to the others, even after the bones have been removed from the site.

Here, you can see why mapping the location of the bones is so important. Here, the team flips a 350 - 500 pound plaster jacket that contains multiple Dimetrodon fin spines and vertebra, still in place as they were buried. It will be transported back to the Museum for further study.