Welcome to the Paleo Prep Lab!

 At the end of each field season, Elevation Science Institute makes the 1,600 mile journey from Red Lodge, MT to Cincinnati, OH. There, the public can watch as we prepare the thousands of pounds of fossils that are collected each summer in the Elevation Science Institute-run Paleo Prep Lab at the Museum of Natural History & Science in the Cincinnati Museum Center.

The 2024 Fossils Have Arrived!!!

We delivered over 200 field jackets full of fossils to the Cincinnati Museum Center in September 2024. Now the prep work begins!

But we need your help! Read below to learn how you can become a volunteer fossil preparator in our state-of-the-art lab!

Image by K. Hunt

What you’ll see on your visit:

When you visit the Paleo Prep Lab you’ll see our Paleo Lab Manager, Katie Hunt, along with some incredible volunteers working on some of Elevation Science Institute’s top priority projects: cleaning, puzzling, preparing.

You may see Allosaurus, Diplodocus, Camarasaurus, and things we haven’t identified yet! What you see on one visit, will likely be different the next. Plans often have to remain flexible in the fossil lab in order to support research priorities. This may seem strange but it actually means that there is always a huge range of projects that you may see on your visit! This also helps support our volunteer program by ensuring that there are tasks to fit all skill levels for learning.

Current projects:

  • A mystery sauropod from ‘Skywalker’, our mystery sauropod site

  • Juvenile Diplodocus bones from the famous ‘Mother’s Day Site’ bonebed

  • A Camarasaurus skeleton nicknamed “Jens” from our ‘Fossil Flats’ locality

  • MegaVert, a massive sauropod vertebra (backbone) from our LZB Blue quarry

  • Juvenile Allosaurus, called “Al2” or “Weird Al”

  • Opening fossil jackets from the 2024 field season!

Image by K. Hunt

2024 Cincinnati Museum Center volunteer. Image by K. Hunt.

Volunteering in the Lab:

Requirements:

  • at least 18 yrs of age

  • COVID-19 vaccination

  • no prior-experience necessary

  • successful clearance of FBI and OH background checks

If you would like to become a volunteer fossil preparator, please visit CMC’s Volunteer Opportunities page (especially the Paleontology Collections Volunteer – Objects tab) and reach out to Cordel George, CMC’s Manager of Volunteer and Intern Services, at cgeorge(at)cincymuseum.org.

If you have previously participated in the field season and are planning to visit the Cincinnati area, please contact Katie Hunt at khunt(at)elevationscience.org.