Moulding stagonolepid osteoderms

Sometimes fossil bones are cut open to make thin sections. Even after millions of years, the tissue patterns are preserved in stone and allow conclusions about growth and metabolic functions. As this conventional method is associated with damage to the bone, the original object is preferably replicated so that the external shape can still be described or measured. The example shows the skin bones (osteoderms) of herbivorous archosaurs from the Triassic, which, like their close crocodilian relatives, had bone plates in their skin armor. The delicate fossil remains were each moulded in a double silicone shell and casted in liquid form.