surrounding rock. Bones of simple shape could sometimes be prepared in less than an hour, while the preparation of a sacrum required a workload of three weeks. By January 2001, 200 single vertebrate bones had already been prepared. At this point, the highest bone density was found in a block measuring 70 x 70 cm, which contained ca. 20 bones. By January 2002, preparation of an even larger block had revealed a partial sauropod skull – the first to be discovered in Europe. Before complete removal of the bones from the block, a silicon cast was made of the block to document the precise three-dimensional position of the individual bones. Part of the Europasaurus fossil material got damaged or destroyed by arson fire in the night from the 4th to the 5th of October, 2003. The fire destroyed the laboratory and exhibition hall of the Dinosaur Park Münchehagen, resulting in the loss of 106 bones, which account for 15% of the bones prepared at the time. Furthermore, the fire affected most of the still unprepared blocks, with firefighting water hitting the hot stone causing additional crumbling. Destroyed specimens include DFMMh/FV 100, which included the best preserved vertebral series and the only complete pelvis. In 2006, the new sauropod taxon was formally described as Europasaurus holgeri. The given etymology for the genus name is "reptile from Europe", and the specific name honours Holger Lüdtke, the discoverer of the first fossils. Given the comparatively small size of the bones, it was initially assumed that they stem from juvenile individuals. The 2006 publication, however, established that the majority of specimens were adult, and that Europasaurus was an island dwarf. The number of individual sauropod bones had increased to 650 and include variously articulated individuals; the material was found within an area of squared. From these specimens, the holotype was selected, a disarticulated but associated individual (DFMMh/FV 291). The holotype includes multiple cranial bones (premaxilla, maxilla and quadratojugal), a partial braincase, multiple mandible bones (dentary, surangular and angular), large amounts of teeth, cervical vertebrae, sacral vertebrae and ribs from the neck and torso. At least 10 other individuals were referred to the same taxon based on overlap in material. A large-scale excavation campaign commenced in the summer of 2012, with the goal to excavate Europasaurus bones not only from lose blocks but directly from the rock layer. Access to the bone-bearing layer required the