Excavation
- Large fossils are separated from
the sediment.
- The sediment is boiled in a solvent
to remove the asphalt (result is a mixture of sand, pebbles and pieces
of larger fossils.
- All the fossils are cleaned, repaired,
sorted, identified and labelled.
- Small / Fragile specimens are cleaned
in ultrasonic baths.
- Large fossils are hand cleaned
using dental tools to remove asphalt.
- The identification of the fossils
is accomplished by comparison against vast archives of other reovered fossils
from the La Brea area.
- Each fossil is catalogued and given
an individual number.