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July 23, 1998 Amy Davidson
Our time at Ukhaa is drawing to a close and I've spent the last few days
collecting everything I can and visiting all our luck spots of the past-
remembering, taking photos and notes and trying to drink it all in. We
never know if we will return. My thoughts turn more and more towards
getting the specimens safely back to New York and the painstaking task of
cataloging. In 10 days we have extracted over 200 lumps, chunks, and blocks
of Ukhaa sandstone, each containing bone. What was eroding into dust 10
days ago is now a shipment of scientific specimens.
Piles of cloth bags containing small bits are heaped in the back of the
truck, along with an odd nest of small and large plaster blocks. Each of
these items has a label stating where, when, by whom it was collected and,
most importantly, the field identification. I assign each specimen a number
and enter the data into the field log. This document seems to sum up our
field season, but I know from experience that this is far from true. When,
where and who are straightforward enough but identification of a specimen
in the field is very tricky.
Here at Ukhaa, unlike almost any other fossil locality on earth, it is
possible to find what Mark calls a "killer specimen"- a complete,
articulated animal emerging as if etched by an artist in the desert floor.
I have excavated and prepared about a dozen of these specimens- a bird, a
dinosaur embryo, a velociraptor skull and a nest of mammals to name a few.
But the majority of the Ukhaa specimens are not so complete or obvious. Of
this summer's haul, 35 specimens are identifiable as partial or complete
skulls and skeletons of mammals, 90 can be assigned to some type of lizard,
2 are birds, 25 are dinosaur parts. The rest are indeterminate or "indet"
for short- the bane of our existence here in the field. Nobody celebrates
the discovery of an indet with wine and song into the night.
 Indets are often left in the ground; we are always looking for better
specimens to devote our attention to. Indets are sometimes partially
destroyed in an attempt to see what the hell they are. With the rock
crumbling in unpredictable ways, this is often unavoidable. This summer I
decided, perhaps perversely, to collect as many Indets as possible (I have
about 10 to date), without even trying to find out what they are. Here I
have an advantage as a fossil preparator because I know that if I can delay
satisfying my curiosity until the specimens arrive in New York, I can have
all the fun of finding out what's in there under my microscope in the lab.
Everyone here knows that field identification is an imperfect art at best.
I've seen a "bird" become a nest of embryos and a "scrap vertebra" become
the braincase of a new dinosaur. Who knows- we may have some celebrations
in store in the months to come and I will definitely have fun in the lab
finding out what it is we really got!
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