February 3, 2009
Mysterious Origins for Important Skull
Last month I wrote about a potentially new ankylosaur, Minotaurasaurus, that had been described in the journal Current Science. Unfortunately, paleontologists were unable to precisely determine how old the fossil is or where it exactly came from. The scientists who reported on it did not dig it out of the ground themselves, and a new report from Nature News suggests the skull might have been taken from Mongolia illegally.
As shown by the case of the missing Tarbosaurus, fossil theft is still a big problem for scientists working in Mongolia. What’s there one field season may be gone the next, and who knows where it will wind up? In the case of Minotaurasaurus, the skull wound up at the Tuscon Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Showcase in Arizona, an expo known for sometimes selling fossils of questionable origin. The ankylosaur skull was one of these poorly-documented specimens, which the scientists who described the fossil knew when they obtained it. The history of the specimen has yet to be fully detailed.
What’s the harm in publishing on fossils like this? Even though it is good for important specimens to be described in the scientific literature, the sale of illegally-obtained specimens is extremely harmful to paleontology. The people who sell stolen fossils are not concerned with science, they only care that they are making money. And the people who do the dirty work of robbing sites get so little out of the deal that they keep stealing to make a living, removing fossils before scientists can get to them and destroying paleontological evidence as they dig.
Sign up for our free email newsletter and receive the best stories from Smithsonian.com each week.
2 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
The individuals who illegally dig and sell fossils are likely locals who have a subsistance existance and are trying to find a way to survive and feed their families. The fossils belong to them as much as to any present government, as they are likely part of a culuture who has lived in that area for centuries. Their conflict is with the powerful oppressors who run governments and scientific establishments and who possess the wealth and social power to declare themselves to be the lawfully entitled entities to own, possess and control fossils or archaeologic artifacts. Until governments and scientific organizations take into account the needs of the indigenous locals and offer them an economic advantage to partner in the scientific endeavors, these locals will continue to need to steal and sell everything they can lay their hands on. There are former poachers in Africa who now are paid to guard and conserve their wild resources. Governments, scientific and conservation organizations need to find a similar model.
As much as we prviliged & sheltered “civilized” cultures love our museums, we would sell everything in them if that was our only opportunity to survive.
I have recently found a large number of dinosaur fossils in Texas. I thought nothing of them, until I uncovered what appears to be a skull with teeth. There are SOOO many specimens over many miles of a creek in central texas. HELP! I am not looking for monetary gain. I do not even wish to be listed as the discoverer. Simply, I just want them to be shared with the public. My private collection is not for sale, I would gladly donate it,but what I have is merely a fraction of many,COMPLETE!!!!CREATURES that I could never begin to catalogue if I tried for the rest of my life. Many miles.