Comments on: The Mystery of the Missing Hominid Fossils

By: Allan Thomasson

Allan Thomasson — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:52:16 +0000

That’s interesting that a war, mishandling, ‘in the mail’, etc., could be the reason there’s no proof of evolution in any realistic form. But I have a suggestion: ‘Let’s ask God, Who made the man.’ Oh! My mistake! He’s already answered that question in Genesis 1:26: ‘And God said, ‘Let Us (speaking to God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost) make man in Our image, after Our likeness.’
And He answered that question even before we asked it, about six thousand years ago. I also have other answers to ‘questions’ about just about everything: extraterrestrials (no purpose, no reason), the devil: does he really exist (of course: read the Book!) Does God really change the heart? Yes. Through Jesus Christ, Who died that all men might believe in Him and be saved from the eternal penalty of their sins, as many of us have, and were. God loves you: love Him back! Believe in the Lord Jesus, and find out what I’m telling you is the truth. I love you, too, and that’s why I tell you these things. I want you to live in eternity with me and my Savior…not in the other place! Allan Thomasson – dunomos@aol.com

By: Erin Wayman

Erin Wayman — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 17:02:46 +0000

The bones that were lost during WWI are still missing. But earlier this year, scientists at a museum in Sweden claimed they had found a Peking man tooth in their collection. In the 1920s, Swedish paleontologists working at Zhoukoudian had shipped a bunch of fossils back to Sweden, but they hadn’t been opened until recently. Here is a link to some more information on that discovery: http://www.uu.se/en/news/news-document/?id=1385&typ=pm&area=3&lang=en.

By: Alyssa Marie

Alyssa Marie — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 22:48:01 +0000

Are they still searching for the lost bones? Or has anyone found them?

By: Erin Wayman

Erin Wayman — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:24:30 +0000

Richard, I don’t know too much about the story of the purported Peking Man canine found in Sweden. But it’s a great subject for a follow-up post, and something I’ll look into. Stay tuned!

Dan, you bring up an interesting point. There are lots of stories of antiquities and artifacts that have been looted or stolen during wars, but it’s true that I haven’t given much thought to other types of scientific specimens that have been lost or ruined. I’d love to learn more about that topic.

By: Dan Chure

Dan Chure — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 04:27:48 +0000

Very interesting topic. The missing “Peking Man” fossils are certainly the most famous fossils lost or destroyed during WWII. However, the losses of paleontological collections (including other hominid material)and,in some cases entire paleontological libraries and laboratories, due to 20th century warfare and social revolutions is quite astounding. Fortunately casts were made of the Peking Man material. For many other losses there were no casts and specimens had often never even been described or figured in the scientific literature.

For some time I and others have been gathering information about such loses, sometimes from nothing more than a brief mention is a scientific paper that a specimen was destroyed. The best selling book “Rape of Europa” documented the looting and destruction of art during WWII and is an excellent read. Unfortunately, there is, as of yet, no such comparable account for the damage to scientific collections of all kinds.