The complete museum skeleton may include restored parts

Read the specimen label before deciding what the display establishes. Casts, composites and reconstructed elements can help communicate an animal's form, but their status matters to a careful explanation of the evidence.

Check whether the display includes casts, composites or restored elements. The label often provides information that the completed skeleton's appearance cannot reveal.

Look for the restoration notes

A label may distinguish original material from restored parts.

Find name and provenance. Read reconstruction notes. Identify qualifications.

A complete display need not be entirely original bone.

Which parts are documented? Provide a large-print extract.

Resources

• Fossil Clue Partner Game — Use the paper clues as a classroom evidence model.

Further reading

• Smithsonian — palaeontology teaching resources

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