Sea Monsters of the North: Day 11-Skull Discovered at Last!

Saw this on National Geographic! It's pretty awesome! Was posted Aug. 17, 2012 by Erik Tunstad
Day 11 - National Geo

By Erik Tunstad We found the head! And at the same time solved a 150-year-old mystery! What an ending–not only for this year’s season, but for the whole project of the Spitsbergen Jurassic Research Group! The buildup was perfect. The long necked plesiosaur we’ve nicknamed “Britney” was found last Sunday, and the digging started on Monday. At the beginning it didn’t stand out, except for giving a faint hope that somewhere, deep in the rocks, there could be a skull. On Thursday we started to expand the already fair sized quarry by chain saw. At that point, the mud had already been bothersome for several days, and it would only get worse. Saturday, Jørn asked us to tear down the mountain side. Since this is our final field season in Spitsbergen, this was absolutely our last chance to find the skull of a plesiosaur. Sunday was horrible between the cold wet weather and the backbreaking labor of digging. As other team members completed their excavations, more and more of the group’s attention turned to this extraordinarily big hole we had been digging–all the way up at the top of the slope. Final Push I went there with Pat this morning. Determined, he started breaking away shale like never before. We others sat there waiting. The wind was freezing, we hunched together–the excitement was tangible. A couple of hours before lunch, we had 43 neck bones exposed. Just how many cervical vertebrae this animal could have, no one knew–but if it were to be a Colymbosaurus, we should end at 46. Unfortunately, no one had ever seen the skull of a Colymbosaurus. Then we hit a downer: Pat noticed a layer of rock on the right side of the crater–and he didn’t find it again on the left. There must be a fault going through the hole –one side of the crater once upon a time having been displaced in relation to the other. What if the fault goes through the neck and at some point separated the head from the rest of the body–and transported the head deeper into the mountain? Or even worse; transported it up, where it became exposed and eroded away? At five p.m. the chain of cervical vertebrae ends. And there is no sign of anything else, either. The atmosphere hits rock bottom. Oh well, that’s that. I get up and take a few finishing shots of Pat and the others, deep down in the permafrost.

The Skull Emerges (with an untrained eye it's hard to tell what's going on here)

Here is a Plesisaur (the skull found) getting attacked by a Pliosaur *computer generated of course*

If you read the full article... you'll find out there's more questions then answers, likewise. Nonetheless, I applaud the Spitsbergen Jurassic Research Group! Wish I could be doing that kind of stuff!

R you saying that picture number 2 is suppose to be picture number 1 put together....? Lol..... All i see is dirt

Originally posted by dayve
R you saying that picture number 2 is suppose to be picture number 1 put together....? Lol..... All i see is dirt

I know! I guess National Geo. expects us to use our imagination???? I'd like to see the toxicology on those remains!!! Of course, even then I'd not know what I'd be looking at either. hahahahaha

I would really love to read the rest of the article but you have not linked it. The only 2 links are to the pictures, could you post a link to the article?

both links go to pictures
what about the story?

reply to post by dayve


This is why they are specialized scientists. I could trip over a skull in the desert and only see a rock, but they can figure out a dinosaur.

Same why my othorpod can see my bone spur on my mri, I am still looking for it.

I do believe this the article in reference.

newswatch.nationalgeographic.com...

here's the link
newswatch.nationalgeographic.com...
you're welcome

reply to post by MissSmartypants

Ha ha thanks I had found it through the link that kdog posted but in that link it does not go to day 11 but I found it and was going to post. You beat me to it lol kudos for you. Thanks.

knew I forgot something!!! thank you guys... I'll put it in the topic post!

reply to post by kdog1982


Thanks for the link. It did not go to day 11 but it was awesome to read the work in progress. Thanks again.

These are some dedicated people to have dealt with the cold fridged temps and living in a cloud to find this specimen. It will be very cool to see the finished example once it is removed from the rock. Beings that this is the first found I wonder how close the artists renditions of this animal are.

reply to post by Agarta


VERY good point! Similar to the speculations on Dinosaurs actually being covered in feathers!! Very exciting stuff!!!

reply to post by Agarta



Yeah,sorry,I pulled it up and didn't notice it was day 9.
My bad.