January 23, 2009
If You Found a Fossil on the Ground, What Would You Do?
The recent case of amateur paleontologist Nathan Murphy illustrates how complicated fossil-collecting can be. Murphy ran a for-profit organization called the Judith River Dinosaur Institute, which took paying customers to dig at fossil sites. According to a New York Times report, Murphy had an arrangement in 2002 to dig on the Montana land of Joann and Howard Hammond, under which he would share profits from his business with them. During that year, one of Murphy’s customers found a Velociraptor-like dinosaur there.
That customer has since said that Murphy told him to keep the discovery secret from the Hammonds, according to the Times. In 2006, Murphy showed parts of the raptor fossil to colleagues and said he had found it only recently and at a different site. Then his customer talked about the find to the Hammonds—who, it turns out, did not own, but rather leased the land on which the fossil was found. The owner of the land filed a complaint against Murphy, who is scheduled to stand trial on theft charges in March. He told the Times that he had assumed he had an agreement to excavate on the property, but that he felt that he had no choice but to plead guilty.
Even under the best of circumstances, determining who can remove fossils from what where can be a tricky business. Every year paleontologists must carefully navigate the tangle of laws and restrictions on fossil collecting. Even though scientists have been clamoring for a more clear-cut system for years, none is on the horizon.
Sign up for our free email newsletter and receive the best stories from Smithsonian.com each week.
7 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
I found what looks to be a fossil approximately five years ago while I was hunting on private land in Monroe County, Wisconsin. I placed it in my pocket and took it home. Sat it on my computer desk where it has been since that day. Recently, while teaching about Dinosaurs in my classroom, I took it in for the kids to see. A co-worker of mine saw my find and realized that it may indeed be a fossil. He took it to a friend of his who is a Geologist. The friend of my co-worker states that he looked it over, ran some tests, and indeed it is a fossil. A very old fossil. Now, I have it home, back on my desk, and I’m worried if there will be legal issues involving this find? I do not wish any harm. I would love to take someone to the place I found this fossil, with the permission of the land owner. At this time, I’m certain there will be some legal ramifications. What suggestions does anyone have in reference to my dilemma? Very concerned!!
Sandy
my family has some land here that i always go for walks on.about six months ago,it had rained pretty good and flooded a little bit.well i noticed what i thought was a rock barely in the ground with a smooth curved surface.when i picked it up it looked like it had been broken over time just sitn in the ground.this land has huge bodies of water all around,and in some places arrowhead rocks come up out of the ground. so this rock that i believe is a fossil,looks like a fossilized egg that has come to the surface after breaking into a few pieces.i would say its a fourth of an egg but the size of the piece i have is the size of a chicken egg.
Last year on a family vacation we had started a fire on the beach. We were using driftwood so the colors were most beautiful. But we were not the only people there so there was none left after just two days. Then as I was sitting by the fire I saw a small piece of wood approximately four inches long. I picked it up and immediately dropped it in surprise as what I picked up was not a light piece of wood but a solid rock. It is indeed a fossil. I was so surprised. The owner of the cottage we were staying at came by the next day to see how we were settling in. I showed him my fossil and he congratulated me on my find. He said I could most certainly keep it and any more I found of the property. He was surprised to say the least. The most interesting thing I can say about it is that you can still see the grain of the wood.
[...] Bom, mesmo eu achando impossível que aconteça com algum de nós, segue uma reportagem de um paleontólogo amador sendo processado.if you found a fossil on the ground what would you do [...]
I have had a love for fossil since i was a kid. i am know in my late teens and have found a dig site on the land where i live. it is of 2 star fish and sea plant life and no iade what to do with it now what would u do
I found a fossil. Looks like shell markings but also has small perfectly round holes and inside the holes looks like the underside of a mushroom head. Can someone tell me what this is? Email me and i’ll send a picture.
I found the strangest skull today at the bay across the street from my house. It washed up from the hurricane along with lots of other things. It looks to me to be marine related. When I researched any possible thing it could be at least related to i found nothing quite in comparison. I wonder if it could be a fossil, though its in pretty good condition it seems. And if it does happen to be one, who do I call and what should I do, I would like to find out what it is somehow!