The restoration of flattened fossils

Neither collapse, due to decay in a soft-bodied organism, nor compaction, due to overburden pressure, normally lead to significant lateral expansion in flattened fossils except in the case of some with rigidly mineralized skeletons. The fossils are thus analogous to a variety of two-dimensional views of a three-dimensional object. This realization provides a foundation for drawing and testing a reconstruction using either computer or manual graphic restoration methods. A complementary approach based on the photography of simple models, which is particularly useful where a complex three-dimensional morphology is under study, is described and illustrated by two examples, the Middle Cambrian arthropod Odaraia and the Upper Ordovician graptolite Direllograptus .