Over the years, BHI has developed numerous new techniques and discovered new products that make fossil discovery and collecting more efficient and effective. This is especially true for surface collecting where fossil remains may be scattered or extremely fragile. Surface pieces are sometimes mapped, identified (if possible), stabilized with preservatives, wrapped, and labeled.

Black Hills Institute uses an assortment of tools to excavate fossil remains. Each tool may have a specific use, or a variety of uses, at different stages of collecting activity. Power tools are used sparingly to avoid risk of damaging fossil material. However, tools like jackhammers and small loaders are sometimes essential in the excavating of fossils. A small loader which is powerful enough to remove tons of overburden (layers of dirt and rock) can, with the right person at the controls, also be gentle enough to find bones when the need calls for it .

At the excavation site, the Institute uses Estwing brand picks and rock hammers, shovels, survival knives, X-acto® knives, and brushes. Picks and shovels are used to reduce the overburden to a minimum, large knives are utilized to go through the sediments in search of bones, and small knives and brushes are then used in the final uncovering and cleaning of the fossil. Brushes and brooms are also used to mantain a clean digsite to make it easier to locate the fossils during excavation.

Once the fossil is exposed, our staff applies glues and preservatives as necessary to ensure that the bone stays together and to stabilize the fossil for transport to a storage area or the laboratory. Black Hills Institute has experimented with all types of adhesives and consolidants in the quest to find the best glues and preservatives for all types of fossils. Cyanoacrylate glues (Paleo Bond™ brands are great), although reversible, should be used sparingly when possible, yet they should be used generously when the fossil is fractured and the pieces are in the right place. For field collecting of porous bones and extremely fractured fossils a combination of Paleo Bond™ penetrant and PVA (polyvinyl acetate) will hold them together and keep them from absorbing moisture. PVA is even used to stabilize fossil material that may be left in the field until the next field season.