Restoration of volumetric reintegration on vertebrate fossil using dental baseplate wax and plaster

Abstract

It was carried out an intervention in the specimen of Sclerocalyptus Ameghino, with catalogue number MACN-PV 18.107, from Pleistocene of Buenos Aires province, Argentina, at the Museum of Natural Sciences "Bernardino Rivadavia" (MACN). Scapulae were poorly preserved due to multiple fractures and missing parts of bone, particularly on the dorsal border and the infraspinatus fossa. These parts are thin and fragile, so it was decided to carry out corrective conservation (ICOM-CC 2008) by means of a volumetric reintegration using a dental baseplate wax and plaster. The minimal intervention criterion was applied (Frazzi 2012: 62-65). This work shows a plaster filling dot technique for incomplete and fragmentary fossils of very thin thickness, which allows a functional and neat covering, without adverse consequences for the fossil.