The ocean, vast and deep, long and mysterious. Since its birth, human beings have begun to explore the marine world.
In the vast blue depths, there are countless mysteries hidden, among which the legend of the "sea monster" has always attracted people.
More than 200 million years ago, china's southwest region was home to various "sea monsters", where the first marine reptiles on the earth lived. After thousands of years of reincarnation of the sun and moon, geological changes, the remains of the "sea monsters" were sealed between the mangy mountains, forming fossils.
Among the fossils that have now reappeared, the "sea monster" has a huge body, fragmented, and almost merged with the rock...
There is such a group of people, before the researchers to contact the fossils, with a pair of skillful hands, day after day, fine repairs, the ancient creatures "rescued" from the rock, restore their body structure... Lay the foundation for a series of astonishing scientific discoveries.
Ding Jinchao (first from the left)
Ding Dynasty is one of them. Repairing the fossils of "sea monsters" is the main field of the fossil repairer of the Institute of Ancient Spine of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. For more than 20 years, many of the fossils he repaired have become classic masterpieces and are famous in the academic community. In his opinion, it is enough to "talk" to ancient creatures with both hands, so that the "sea monsters" buried in the hard rock can reappear in the sky, and only do this one thing in their lives.
Get started with "Touching bones"
On the banks of Yanqi Lake in Huairou District, Beijing, several factories are located in a small courtyard. This is the workstation of the Institute of Paleovertebrates of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which collects fossil specimens of various types of large and small categories.
Put on a mask, turn on the microscope, pick up the engraving pen, the nib of the pen turns rapidly, making a "nuisance" sound... In a restoration room, under the spotlight, Ding Jinchao was calm and concentrated, skillfully operating. On the counterstall, in a dark gray limestone, bones similar to the color of the rock are revealed.
"The so-called 'repair' is the process of fully exposing biological fossils from their surrounding rocks." Ding Jinchao's hand rested on the fossil, as if in dialogue with an old friend, he gently brushed off the polished rock fragments, and said seriously, "Qualified fossil repair is a delicate work like microsurgery." The pneumatic engraving pen in his hand, equivalent to a "scalpel", knocks out the surrounding rock wrapped around the fossil by adjusting the size of the air volume. Due to the hardness of the rock and the small contrast between the fossil and the surrounding rock, the repair of vertebrate fossils in the limestone is recognized as a technical problem in the world's paleontological community. Ding Jinchao was able to use ordinary tools to complete "surgery" with extremely high precision requirements.
"To get a fossil, we must first understand its origin, strata, and what category it probably belongs to, and after understanding these, we can clearly grasp the accurate information of this fossil." Ding Jinchao said that finding out the body structure of the organisms in the fossils is the first step in the repair work, and it must not be ignored, "The overall framework is counted in mind, and it can be easily repaired." "When the formal repair is made, start where the biological skeleton is exposed, and if the whole is wrapped in rocks, start with the leg or the place where the bone is more prominent, and extend it down little by little.
"With so many bones, how do you know where it is?"
Ding Jinchao smiled and picked up a piece of marine animal fossil that was about to be completed, and explained in detail: "Now this fossil clearly shows the skull, spine and limb bones, etc., almost all of which are complete, but when we first got it, these details are invisible, and we can only roughly see the protrusions of the bones on the rocks on the outside, and we judge the specific body structure of the organism according to these protrusions." He further explains, for example, that a single longer "protrusion" is generally either a neck or a tail, "if you know a little more about the structure of life, you will know that the neck must be thicker, and the tail should be flattened and thinner..."
Speaking of fossil repair technology, the originally shy and implicit Ding Dynasty seems to have changed into a person, always having endless words, and his eyes are shining. In fact, when he first came into contact with fossils, he didn't even know what he was going to do...
Ding dynasty conducted field expeditions in the Zada Basin of Tibet
In the winter of 1997, Ding Jinchao, who had just graduated from high school, left his hometown in Sichuan and came to Beijing, and on the recommendation of his acquaintances, he entered the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and followed master Wang Haijun to learn mounting, specimen restoration, and model making. "At that time, I had no concept of this job, people just said to be able to sit still and be patient, I thought I could try it, and I came." Ding Jinchao recalled.
The first step in fossil repair begins with "identifying bones".
In the first few months of arriving at the Ancient Spine Institute, the master would bring various fossil bones every day for Ding Jinchao to touch and feel with his hands. These bones come from different parts of the biological body, at the beginning, the bones given to him by the master are relatively complete, and they are relatively easy to recognize, and when he slowly becomes familiar with the structure of the organism, the master will have some problems from time to time, give him some more broken bones, let him distinguish what part of each bone comes from...
Through touching again and again, the feeling in the hand turns into a memory and is deeply imprinted in the mind. "In the end, if you pick up any piece of broken bone, you must immediately reflect where the bone is and how long the whole bone is." Ding Jinchao said that the experience accumulated by "touching bones" has been used by him in every practical operation, as long as he sees a certain section of bone in a certain biological structure, he can "brain supplement" what this bone looks like, and even what the entire body of the organism looks like and how long it is. Even later fossil repair and field collection are of great help. ”
In addition to "recognizing bones", Ding Dynasty also had to learn the restoration of dinosaur skeletons. Because of their age, dinosaur fossils are difficult to preserve intact, and most dinosaur bones need to be replenished by fossil repair personnel and assembled into a complete skeleton. "Those missing bones need to be repaired by ourselves." Ding Jinchao further explained, "The master will guide us to copy the preserved side in equal proportions after turning the mold according to the principle of symmetry between the left and right of the biological structure, and make up for the missing side. ”
In the three years since, Ding has continued to hone his technique in practice. He has participated in the restoration, erection and model production of dinosaur fossils in many museums and other collection institutions in China, and has also restored a large number of dinosaur fossils for many research groups in the Institute of Ancient Vertebrate, the most famous of which are the accidental Beipiplex in the Rehe biota, Theoxi Parrot-billed Dragon and so on.
Rescue the "Sea Monster"
In the office of Ding Dynasty and around the specimen warehouse, there are all kinds of fossils of different types and different preservation states. These are his most cherished treasures.
Since 2000, Ding Jinchao has joined the Guizhou research group, mainly engaged in the repair of Marine Reptile Fossils of the Triassic Period in Yunnan and Guizhou. "Using professional repair tools, 'rescue' the 'sea monsters' buried in the hard limestone more than 200 million years ago and bring them back to life." This is what Ding Jinchao loves the most. In the past 20 years, he has repaired precious specimens such as Oriental Dinosaur, Sast Ichthyosaurus, Mixed Crocodile, Li's YunguiLong, Half-Toothed Turtle, Strange Filter-toothed Dragon, etc., which have been published in top academic journals at home and abroad and have become academic classics. Among the many specimens, he was most impressed by the repair process of the half-beetle turtle.
Half-toothed turtle
In May 2007, Li Chun, a researcher at the Institute of Paleovertebrates of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, handed Ding Jinchao a specimen that was said to be a "dragon with a dragon." "The specimen was about 50 centimeters long and was almost completely wrapped in surrounding rock, and only its looming outline could be observed." Based on experience, Ding Dynasty could see that the carapace of this specimen was not a circular structure common to plesiosaurs, and it was irregular, and the sides of the carapace resembled a symmetrical bone plate with open openings.
"At the time, I speculated that if it was really a dragon, it would at least be an unknown new genus!" Career instincts could have made Ding Feel both nervous and excited.
Because of the cherishing of the specimen, the work under the hand is naturally more refined. Ding Jinchao observed with the help of a asana microscope and repaired it with an aerodynamic engraving pen, adjusting the nib vibration to the minimum frequency, "so that little by little the engraving and grinding, to ensure that no trace of wear marks are left on the specimen." Ding Recalls the details of the restoration at that time, because the surface of the specimen was uneven, for the sake of safety, he started from the shallow and easily exposed place where the fossil was buried. The left forelimb bone of the specimen became the place where the knife first began.
As the repairs slowly progressed, Ding found that the phalangeal joints and hook-like "claw tips" of this creature were far from the previously repaired several lintel dragons. It was difficult to suppress the excitement in his heart, so he immediately told Li Chun, a researcher in the research group, about this situation.
When Li Chun saw this specimen, he was so surprised that he could not speak for a moment, he used the index finger of his right hand to stroke back and forth on the left hand tiger's mouth a few times, as if recalling something, and suddenly his voice trembled and said: "Maybe... It should be a turtle! The excitement was palpable.
Restoration of the half-toothed turtle
Although not a researcher, with years of experience in repairing various specimens, Ding Jinchao also immediately realized that, as Li Chun said, this fossil from Guanling, Guizhou, was undoubtedly the earliest and most primitive turtle known at that time. Li Chun told Ding That he had raised no less than 10 species of living turtles since elementary school, and in face-to-face contact and communication with these reptiles, he knew their forms, living habits and even every move, so that when he saw the fossil specimen in front of him, he even had "synaesthesia". "It turned out that every time he changed the water for the large-headed flat-breasted turtle, the turtle struggled hard, and the front paws crossed the edge of his tiger's mouth made it difficult for him to forget." Recalling the beginning, Ding Jinchao's heart still maintained a trace of excitement, "The black hook-shaped knuckles on the specimen are so similar to the shape of the phalanges at the end of the front paws of the flat-breasted turtle!" ”
After months of long and intense repairs, the rest of the fossils emerged: the carapace was smooth and flat, the skull was only the size of an adult's thumb, and the upper and lower jaws had teeth as thin as pinpoints. After preliminary identification, the researchers were convinced that this was a prehistoric turtle fossil and that it was preserved on the ventral surface. This became known as the half-toothed turtle.
Pursue the ultimate
Subsequently, two more specimens of the same kind were handed over to Ding Jinchao for repair.
"One of them is a strange dragon that fossil enthusiasts think is not well preserved, but it is also a fossil of a half-toothed turtle preserved on the ventral surface." Due to the artificial repair and polishing, the structure of the ventral surface was damaged. Ding Jinchao said that in order to facilitate more detailed and in-depth research and understand the morphological and structural characteristics of the back, the research team decided to carry out "three-dimensional three-dimensional" repair of the specimen, that is, to remove all surrounding rocks and leave only bone fossils.
"It's a challenge for us." Ding Jinchao said that marine limestone is very hard, and the texture and color of fossils and surrounding rocks are very close, so it is the consensus in the industry that limestone fossil specimens are difficult to repair, which has also become one of the restrictive factors for the research work of many academic teams at home and abroad. Such fossils are under so much pressure during their formation that the bones are almost flattened. If you want to carry out three-dimensional repair, the difficulty can be imagined.
Ding Jinchao repaired and protected the Chunxin Dragon fossils in the Biantun Museum in Lijiang, Yunnan.
For safety, Ding first cleaned and reinforced the specimens, covered the fossils and surrounding rock with wet cotton paper to isolate them from the gypsum base, and then turned them over under the microscope for "surgical" repairs.
After several months of hard work, the carving of the surface of the tortoiseshell, the seams between the bone pieces, the tiny blood vessels and nerve holes... The detailed structure of these fossils was eventually revealed one by one. "Thanks to this repair, the structure of the back of the specimen is clearly visible." It can be seen that the carapace on the back of the turtle was just beginning to appear at that time, and the prototype of the dorsal carapace was significantly related to the specialization of the ribs and spine. This provides direct evidence for the origin of the tortoiseshell.
Another specimen sent was a "broken fish head" picked up from the mountain by his fellow villagers during the field survey, and Ding Jinchao explained that in fact, these were several scattered pieces of abdominal carapace and the bones of the back of the head of the half-toothed turtle. This specimen finally determined the specific origin and strata of the half-beetle turtle, and also added some features that were not preserved in the first two specimens.
At the end of 2008, the three specimens with not only teeth but also incomplete development of the dorsal carapace were named by researchers as the "half-toothed turtle" – the world's most primitive turtle fossil. The research paper was published in the British journal Nature, which attracted great attention from the academic community. There are even reviews that compare its scholarly value to the famous "Archaeopteryx".
Since then, Ding Jinchao has "dialogued" with ancient creatures again and again, and with his love for work and the unimaginable patience of ordinary people, he has restored a number of well-known classic specimens in the academic circles, and the scientific research papers used in the specimens have been published in China's Science Bulletin, Science of China, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology and Journal of Geology (English Edition), as well as many important academic journals such as Nature in the United Kingdom and Science in the United States, involving nearly 30 papers.
After years of precipitation, Ding Jinchao led an excellent fossil repair team of 7 people for the Specimen Center of the Institute of Paleovertebrates of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Since 2007, he has organized the repair team to repair and protect specimens collected by Zhejiang Natural Museum, Shanghai Natural History Museum, Shaoxing Science and Technology Museum, Beijing Natural Museum, Tianjin Natural Museum, Inner Mongolia Museum, Henan Geological Museum and National Oceanographic Museum. The number of fossils repaired by the team increased significantly, allowing the Paleovertebrate Institute to study the collections of multiple units and help museums around the world obtain high-quality fossil specimens.
Ding is repairing and reinforcing the specimens
Ding Jinchao also specially tackled the problem of repairing vertebrate fossils in limestone, and gradually explored a set of effective repair methods for different lithology. In his spare time, he has written about his fossil repair experience and fossil conservation techniques in the wild, which have been published in professional journals.
In 2007, he participated in the drafting of the "Classification and Coding of Resources of the National Natural Science and Technology Resources Platform - Technical Regulations for indoor Repair and Preservation of Vertebrate Fossils" presided over by the Ministry of Science and Technology; in 2013, he participated in the drafting of the "Technical Requirements for the Investigation of The Origin of Paleontological Fossils - Technical Regulations for the Collection of Paleontto-Vertebrate Fossils" presided over by the former Ministry of Land and Resources; in recent years, he has also won the "Technical Expert of the Chinese Academy of Sciences" and was hired by the Institute of Paleovertebrates of the Chinese Academy of Sciences as a senior experimenter in fossil repair.
"High-quality fossil repair is the basis for all follow-up work." For every fossil specimen repaired by his own hands, Ding Dynasty spent a lot of time and effort. Deep participation in every scientific research project, every precious fossil specimen, let him deeply appreciate the value of his work, in the process of communication with researchers, their rigorous and serious science, invisibly also affected the professional attitude of Ding Dynasty, let him strive for excellence, strive for first-class as a lifelong career pursuit.
Dr. Wu Xiaochun of the National Museum of Nature of Canada, who participated in the study of the half-toothed turtle, once said, "Without fine repairs, even the best specimens cannot make a resounding article!" In Ding's view, this may be the best praise and encouragement for fossil repairmen.