Mel Jackovich with tail vertebrae
Another great day, several articulated bones were found. Burpee Volunteer Mel Jackovich found 7 articulated tail vertebra for a possible Apatosaurus. Finding articulated material is always so cool. It shows that although these carcasses were transported they weren’t transported very far before they were buried.
Also, articulated bones are just neat to see. In addition to the articulated material we have a complete set of hips for our big Barosaurus, two new femora (upper leg bones) and I think Paul Vaitkus has some other articulated material.
Nancy & Bob Moore
Another great day with and endless supply of late Jurassic dinosaur bones waiting for us tomorrow.
Normally, I would post about how awesome this quarry is and how we keep finding bone after bone after bone. Of course it would be true. However this time I really have something to crow about. We have found and collected part of a sauropod skull. One of the WIU students, Megan Luczak uncovered a strange bone.
Scott Williams works on dentary
In a short time I was able to prep off one surface and determine it was a Camarasaurus dentary (jaw) and part of the braincse. This was exceptionally exciting as sauropod skulls are pretty rare. They had huge bodies and relatively small skulls. Hopefully we can find more of this skull in the near future.
One of the most important factors when it comes to a large scale paleontological dig is to have good support from the surrounding community. Over the last few summers Burpee has been blessed with wonderful hosts in the townspeople of Hanksville. A few notables who have given their time and support to us include Mayor Curtis Whipple, Don and Connie Pfoutz, the whole crew a Blondies Restaurant and of course Sue Fivecoat and Buzz Rakow at the local BLM. It seems like everyone is behing making the Hanksville-Burpee a success. In fact, one young man decided to make protecting the Hanksville-Burpee Quarry the focus of his Eagle Scout Project. 18 year old, Jake Finkelstein’s project was ambitious and much needed. Jake planed, supervised and help build a 450 foot fence with two metal gates one the south entrance to the quarry. 
This fence is made of sturdy pine posts driven 3 feet down into solid sandstone. In addition Jake built a kiosk so that information about the quarry can be posted for visitors when we are not around. This new construction gives the site a more “permanent” and professional feel. It will also make it harder for people to drive vehicles up onto the site and will help deter any bone poaching. Now that tours have started up we have had many compliments. Good Job Jake!
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