Historical photogrammetry: Bird's Paluxy River dinosaur chase sequence digitally reconstructed as it was prior to excavation 70 years ago.
It is inevitable that some important specimens will become lost or damaged over time, conservation is therefore of vital importance. The Paluxy River dinosaur tracksite is among the most famous in the world. In 1940, Roland T. Bird described and excavated a portion of the site containing associated theropod and sauropod trackways. This excavated trackway was split up and housed in different institutions, and during the process a portion was lost or destroyed. We applied photogrammetric techniques to photographs taken by Bird over 70 years ago, before the trackway was removed, to digitally reconstruct the site as it was prior to excavation. The 3D digital model offers the opportunity to corroborate maps drawn by R.T. Bird when the tracksite was first described. More broadly, this work demonstrates the exciting potential for digitally recreating palaeontological, geological, or archaeological specimens that have been lost to science, but for which photographic documentation exists.
Structure and Motion Laboratory, Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, London, United Kingdom; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America.
Peter L
PL
Falkingham
Department of Musculoskeletal Biology II, Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
Karl T
KT
Bates
Department of Geosciences, Indiana-Purdue University, Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States of America.
James O
JO
Farlow
D000818:Animals; D001106:Archaeology / Q000379:methods; D025061:Dinosaurs / Q000502:physiology*; D005580:Fossils; D005844:Geology / Q000379:methods; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D010780:Photogrammetry / Q000379:methods; D045483:Rivers