Diplodocus has left the building. Our largest dinosaur skeleton had stood in the National Museum of Natural History's Fossil Halls since 1931, delighting millions of visitors who craned their necks this way and that as they tried to take in its astonishing dimensions. Now, the bones are packed in shipping crates and on their way to the company that will build a new metal armature to support the massive skeleton. When it is reinstalled in the renovated National Fossil Halls in 2019, Diplodocus will have a new stance that reflects the latest knowledge about how these giant dinosaurs stood and moved.
The fossil was collected in Dinosaur National Monument in Utah in 1923. It took years to prepare the bones for display and build a metal armature strong enough to support them in a life-like pose. This photo shows the mount during its installation.
The mount was completed in 1931. The vertebrae rested on a heavy cast iron band held aloft by four sturdy poles. Smaller bands supporting the limbs and ribs were suspended below. Photo dates from the 1940s.
During Fossil Hall renovations in the 1960s and 1980s, Diplodocus was protected by construction barriers and draped plastic as nearby displays were expanded and rearranged, and demolition and construction took place in the surrounding spaces.
The mount protected by a construction barrier during the early 1960s.
Other dinosaur mounts were rearranged around Diplodocus during the 1960s renovation. The Triceratops in the front left of the 1940s photo is now in the rear.
Draped in plastic during the 1980 renovation. Photo by Chip Clark
Metal work nearby, circa 1980. Photo by Chip Clark
Cables suspended from above replace the front-most support post. Photo, Chip Clark
Among the 1980s changes, Triceratops and other dinosaurs were moved again, and the floor around the central display was raised. Photo by Chip Clark
The current renovation is different. It involves such extensive infrastructure updates and exhibit reconfiguration that Diplodocus simply can't stay put. Photos from its recent "de-installation" are below.
Before: The surrounding specimens were removed and the platform was cut down to allow access for a lift and hoists.
The limb bones and ribs came off first. A hoist was needed to lower the heaviest limb bones.
Once all but the heaviest vertebrae had been removed from the armature, the platform was cut down even further.
The heavy sacrum was held aloft by a hoist as the post that once supported it was cut away.
Too heavy to move around by hand, the heavy sacrum was packed for travel by building a crate around it as it hung from the hoist.
The bones filled many crates. Each was supported by foam and secured in place with straps to prevent any movement.
In taking apart and reassembling Diplodocus and other old mounts, we have a rare opportunity to provide their bones with much-needed conservation work and to update their armatures using the latest mounting technologies. Who knows when a chance like this will come again?
Read earlier posts about dismantling the National Fossil Halls, and view the work in real time or time lapse via a webcam mounted in the main hall.
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