Removing the cast on LuLu's mammoth tusk

After two long years of waiting, we finally opened the cast protecting the the 8.5 foot long Columbian mammoth tusk that was unearthed at a construction site in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood! The preservation process is intentionally slow to protect the tusk. When the tusk was removed from the ground in February 2014, it was extremely water-logged and unstable. So Burke paleontologists fully encased it in plaster to prevent it from drying too quickly.

Burke paleontologists still have a lot of work to do on the tusk, but this was an exciting glimpse into the tusk's preservation process!