THE HOWE QUARRY PROJECT: AFTER 80 YEARS OF NEGLECT, A HISTORIC COLLECTION STILL PROVIDES INVALUABLE SCIENTIFIC DATA AND A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR SCIENTIFIC OUTREACH

In 1934, Barnum Brown of the American Museum of Natural History in New York (AMNH) led a large-scale dinosaur excavation in northern Wyoming, where he found bones two years earlier. Initially, Brown expected to excavate two skeletons of sauropod dinosaurs, but soon after opening the quarry, the team realized that the site far exceeded their expectations: in the end, they unearthed 3000-4000 bones within six months, and sent about 140 crates back to the AMNH. Due to the enormous amount of bones, the site became world-famous as a dinosaur graveyard, and media from all over the United States and abroad reported on the expedition. Soon after, however, the collection shifted out of curatorial focus. What followed was a history of neglect: inaccurate storage conditions, water and fire damage, collapsing wooden boxes, and deteriorating plaster jackets.

Relocation and further excavation of the quarry by the Sauriermuseum Aathal (Switzerland; SMA) from 1989 to 1991 confirmed earlier finds of skin impressions and resulted in the recognition of a novel diplodocid sauropod: Kaatedocus siberi. Given that the amount of bones found by the AMNH far exceeded the one at SMA, a new project was started in 2017 to reassess the state and scientific value of the historic collections. Although most of the bones are heavily fragmented, preliminary results show that overall preservation is still exceptional. Geochemical analyses revealed pieces of preserved air sac membranes within cervical vertebrae and skin associated with ribs. Thin sections of ribs and long bones of sauropods imply the presence of early juveniles, sexually mature, but still growing adults, and skeletally mature ones. However, the Howe Quarry is not only of scientific importance: the unique combination of historical reconstruction of the excavation, current preparation, curatorial work, and research provides a great opportunity for outreach. It is therefore the topic of the first official AMNH Facebook Group, in which members of the group obtain weekly updates on the project. Within just two and a half months of being live, the group reached more than 200 members, and nearly 400 interactions. Historic collections, even after dozens of years of neglect, can thus be of great and unexpected value, both for research and scientific outreach.