As we clean and repair the whale skeletons we are increasingly discovering clues to their past, both as living beings (growth, age, pathology) and as specimens destined for museum exhibition.
Marielle has been examining the skeletons, bone by individual bone, for cut marks which can give her clues as to how the dead whales were defleshed and prepared so that the skeletons could be extracted, cleaned and re-articulated ready to hang in the whale hall.
All of the whale skeletons in the hall that she has examined so far have shown extensive cut marks on many of the bones. By mapping these marks and researching historical documents she has been able to build up a picture of how the skeletons were prepared.
Although it is not known whether the whales we have here were acquired by the museum through beachings or brought into whaling stations along the Norwegian coast Marielle has found that the cutting marks illustrate that the whales were defleshed by hand. The vast quantities of blubber were removed using flensing knives designed for this purpose.
Marielle has been examining the skeletons, bone by individual bone, for cut marks which can give her clues as to how the dead whales were defleshed and prepared so that the skeletons could be extracted, cleaned and re-articulated ready to hang in the whale hall.
All of the whale skeletons in the hall that she has examined so far have shown extensive cut marks on many of the bones. By mapping these marks and researching historical documents she has been able to build up a picture of how the skeletons were prepared.
Although it is not known whether the whales we have here were acquired by the museum through beachings or brought into whaling stations along the Norwegian coast Marielle has found that the cutting marks illustrate that the whales were defleshed by hand. The vast quantities of blubber were removed using flensing knives designed for this purpose.
An example of a flensing knife, specifically designed to remove whale blubber.
After being defleshed Marielle thinks the the skeletons may have been cut up into manageable pieces to allow them to be more easily moved around. She has found that many of the largest bones such as the skulls have been cut into two pieces, presumably so that they could be brought up into the musuem before being fixed back together.
The dissected out bones, once defleshed would then have either been put into a bath of degreasing agent to remove the remaining tissue and grease, left in shallow water or buried in soil to allow microbial cleaning. Marielle is continuing her investigations and hopes to find more evidence from the skeletons which will allow her to work out exactly which of these maceration processes was used. We'll keep you updated!
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