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FoundingMonsters

@foundingmonsters.bsky.social
78 followers 119 following 295 posts

I’m an archaeologist but with a strong interest in the Founding Fathers obsession with mastodons. Also a giant ground sloth fan.

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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I 3-D printed my brain from a CT-scan made following my second brain surgery and that Terrie converted into an STL. This is printed with a flexible filament so is a bit squeezable &, as Anni demonstrated, also bounces. This particular replica is 1/2 scale and I am printing a full-sized version now
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
#MastodonMonday with Arly and Charles Willson Peale
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
#MastodonMonday hijinks from A (Anni) to Z (Ziggy) in @virtualcurationlab
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Reposted by FoundingMonsters
Ben Miller @extinctmonsters.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
game changer
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
New profile pic? Or, is there a Terminator inside of me?
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
What to do with a 3-D print of your own skull with two holes drilled into it (the actual skull, not the replica)? Add lights!
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Arly with her friend Charles Willson Peale, a noted artist & Rev War hero, who ran the first successful public museum in U.S. history as well as conducted the first scientific investigation in U.S. History with the exhumation of a mastodon skeleton (and its reconstruction) in 1801 #FossilFriday
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
I’m working on a frame for art from #FoundingMonstersComic that will be part of an exhibit this fall. Most of the art except the cover & one interior page will be 2D art representing pages from the comic. The corners of the frame are 4 different views of Ben Franklin’s mastodon molar #FossilFriday
3D printed cover of the Founding Monsters comic with a 3D printed frame
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Well, I have metal in my head now, but luckily not the kind that sets off TSA at the airport
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
The Evil Empire says I am getting it tomorrow……. B*stards
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Colonel Sanders on campus
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Little Big Bone Lick
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Figures…… I’ve been trying to get permission to scan the fossils at Monticello but no luck so far
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
That’s what the evil empire tells me!
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
This CT scan without all that pesky skin blocking the view. This and other animations pulled from my CT data by @anthroterrie.bsky.social
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I feel very science-fictiony with this CT scan
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Maybe I can head out to the Nebraska state museum sometime… not been to Nebraska before :)
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Definitely interested. And, I wish the academy was more open. At least I have Ben Franklin’s mastodon molar
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Probably early next week! Just to get timing straight! Flexible is nice. We’re working on magnets and key chains as well :)
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Section of my skull from the CT scan post 2nd brain surgery. You have to wait for the rotation but you can see 2 holes in my skull and the staples on the outside. When they removed the staples, I kept them—-and the staple remover. Had to wear a hat to keep them from snagging on branches in my yard
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
The QR code takes you to an article about my 3-D printed skull and one of the 3-D prints I made shows the skull with cervical vertebra. Thanks to @anthroterrie.bsky.social for processing the CT data. Note this is BEFORE I knew my brain was bleeding and before holes were drilled in my skull
Picture of me holding my own 3-D printed skull3-D printed skull with cervical vertebra…. Supports not removed from skull
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I’ll have to post the animation where you can see the holes in my skull. And the one with staples in my skull. Crazy times but I am mostly OK and very lucky.
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I do have scans of some of the Big Bone Lick fossils that are in Philadelphia if they need them…. (But, I’m sure everyone has them!)
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Since I never posted about this on Bluesky, here I am being wheeled off to have the second of two brain surgeries two days after Memorial Day. All because of a hit-and-run cyclist blasting through a red light in mid-March, causing my brain to bleed.
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I did not…… Sadly I did not check ahead to ask who I should talk to…. I’ve not posted on Bluesky about this, but I had emergency brain surgery in late May (I was hit by a bike in March). A plus is that I have my skull 3-D printed….. and I owe you a call anyhow about the Founding Fossils exhibit!
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Dramatic pose worthy of this new t-shirt from Big Bone Lick
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Interesting angel holding a large basin, from atop a grave at Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I’ve not seen a grave marker like this one before. A young girl (presumably 5 given the age of the deceased) with curtains on either side of her. From Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
“Spirit of Ecstasy” sculpture I 3-D scanned at Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, KY, which I later learned is based on the Rolls-Royce hood ornament designed in 1911
Sculpture of a woman in a dramatic pose with her arms swept backward and enclosed in a cloak, given the appearance of wings
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I learned last week the Colonel Sanders is buried in Louisville, Kentucky’s Cave Hill Cemetery. Here is a 3-D scan of the bust that sits atop his grave.
Bust of Kentucky Fried Chicken’s Colonel Sanders
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Haven’t been to Big Bone Lick yet? Or, it’s been awhile? Here is a 3-D model of the interpretive diorama that you can interact with #MastodonMonday #MammothMonday
3-D model of a full-sized interpretative diorama with a replica of a mastodon, a mammoth, a giant ground sloth, two vultures, and a dead bison
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Now with sword
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Use the QR code tp read this story from @vcunews
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
3 views of my 3D printed skull
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Contemplating my own skull…. A very personal memento mori….. thanks Terrie!
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
You can just see Maggie, Goose, and Maddie beyond the #PrideTheMastodon skeleton on #MastodonMonday
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
A reunion of the folks (all @vcuchs @vcualumni) who worked on the #FoundingFossilsExhibit @thepealebaltimore Maggie and I co-created the #FoundingMonstersComic that will also be the source for an upcoming exhibit in Pennsylvania with @widga.bsky.social All on #MastodonMonday
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Random lab photo with mastodon leg from @nysmuseum and mastodon tusk from @valivingmuseum #FossilFriday
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Lexie and Merin from @maggiewalkernps visited the lab this week and are shown here with a mastodon tusk from @valivingmuseum #FossilFriday
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Printing a new version of Charles Knight’s early 20th century mastodon sculpture #FossilFriday
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
At least you know the components!
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Meteorites and meteor-wrongs at the Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum and Art Gallery at Penn State
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
I love how geology and Pride are tied together in this exhibit at the Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum and Art Gallery at Penn State
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
It’ll happen! Going to start printing a full-sized Charles Knight mastodon model when I get back (full size to his sculpture, not to an actual mastodon)
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Had a short but productive meeting with Dr. Chris Widga, Director of the Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum & Art Gallery at Penn State, about an exhibit for the fall based on the #FoundingMonsters comic….. great museum btw!
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Finally reprinted all 18 pieces of the mastodon tusk from @valivingmuseum on #MastodonMonday
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Ella working on a 3D printed replica of Ben Franklin’s mastodon molar on #MastodonMonday
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
Shadow of the Mastodon on #TuskTuesday while walking around @vcu campus
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FoundingMonsters @foundingmonsters.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
@vcuchs first year student Lily and @vcuarts @vcupathwaysprogram student Cami both painted 3D printed replicas of Ben Franklin’s mastodon molar today
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