A team of University of Washington researchers found this big boy in Northeastern Montana.
A team of University of Washington researchers found this big boy in eastern Montana. RS

For the last 17 months paleontologists at the University of Washington's Burke Museum have been scraping away at the sandstone encasing the "Tufts-Love" T. Rex, which was discovered in 2015 by two Burke volunteers at the Hell Creek Formation in eastern Montana.

The fact that UW has this skull is a very big deal because it's one of the most complete skulls—if not the most complete skull—of that dinosaur in the world. We won't know for sure if it's the most complete skull until they fully exhume it, said Burke volunteer Jean (Prim) Primozich, who was running the fossil prep lab at the museum when I visited on Wednesday afternoon, but she thinks it's looking likely. Nonetheless, the skull is one of only 15 reasonably complete T. Rex skulls on the planet, and it helps us learn more about everyone's favorite tyrant lizard.

On December 30 (this Sunday), the Burke will close up shop so they can move their wares into their brand new building, which looks pretty cool. In celebration of the move, admission is free for the rest of the week. Aside from their regular exhibits, they're featuring new activities that are fun for the whole family, and also for people who have chosen to Slog during this lovely non-week between Christmas and New Year's.

Check out the sweet T. Rex skull, which is part of the Testing, Testing 1-2-3 exhibit, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. until the 29th. With infectious enthusiasm, Primozich will tell you all about the dinosaur's long ear bones, its powerful jaws (which crushed prey with 7,800 pounds of pressure; humans do about 168), its serrated teeth, and the fact that the skull has come to us so whole.

On that little tour of the lab, you can also watch paleontologists blast rock from bone using a "scribe," which is a mini jackhammer powered by compressed air. Look at this thing:

Turns out is very difficult to tell the difference between stone and bone.
The scribe is that little hose the scientists are holding. That giant Dr. Seuss machine is a dust collector. RS

A volunteer will tell you all about this amazing Thescelosaurus spine the UW researchers found at the dig site. More than the T. Rex skull, looking at this fossil for about a minute transported me back to the late Cretaceous period when the Thescelosaurus was wandering around and eating the foliage flourishing in the floodplains of subtropical Montana.

Thats some fine spine.
That's some fine spine. RS

Every day at 2 p.m. Burke staff and volunteers will hold "Tiny Talks" about the "latest research and recent (re)discoveries of stories revealed in the process of moving into the New Burke." And over the weekend, Dec. 29 and 30, Coast Salish artist Ty Juvinel will tell the story of "How Mouse Moved the Mountain."

There were tons of kids running around the museum on Wednesday afternoon, which made the place feel a little hectic. But their genuine enthusiasm for the dinos was sweet, and after this weekend it'll be months until you can explore different epochs of natural history at the Burke again. So get there soon, you lazy dummies!