Preserving Stories Carved in Time

What Makes Britney Unique? Big Eyes: Britney had exceptionally large eyes, which likely gave her an advantage when hunting in the dark depths of the ocean. Small Head: Unlike other plesiosaurs, Britney had an unusually small head, setting her apart from others of her kind. Discovery: Her skeleton was found in Svalbard in 2012 and dates back to the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous period, around 147 million years ago. The big beast was 5 to 5.5 metres long. But the head is just over 20 centimetres. That’s very small compared to the body. Britney provides valuable insights into marine life during the age of dinosaurs, helping us understand how these remarkable creatures adapted to life in the ocean. “This discovery is unique and is the only one of this group of plesiosaurs in the world with a preserved skull. Its strange shape, with a very small head and large eyes, is also very atypical for plesiosaurs, to an extreme degree. We made reconstructions of the entire skull in 3D. It’s really cool because we can actually see structures inside the skull that we can’t see on the surface.”

CONCLUSION Preserving the digital data of the Britney fossil on piqlfilm offers a future-proof solution for archiving this remarkable discovery. Piql’s photosensitive film, engineered for long-term durability and environmental resilience, ensures that high-resolution images, data, and documentation of Britney’s skeleton are securely stored for centuries. This technology not only protects the fossil’s data from technological obsolescence but also preserves it offline, minimizing the risks associated with digital degra dation and data loss over time.

”

Jørn Hurum, a palaeontologist and professor at the University of Oslo’s Natural History Museum

| 8