History of Diplodocus carnegii of the MNCN: first assembled dinosaur skeleton in the Iberian Peninsula.

Abstract

The arrival of a replica of the famous skeleton of Diplodocus donated by Andrew Carnegie to the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (Madrid) took place almost a century ago. It constitutes the first and unique skeleton of dinosaur assembled until the eighties of the past century in the Iberian Peninsula. This fact, the circumstances that surrounded their accomplishment, transports and installation, as well as the social and political repercussion that it had at the time, is detailed in the following pages. Besides using photographic documentation and unpublished handwritten documents, it has been collected the abundant references to the skeleton published in the Spanish press, which served as the link between paleontology and society.