Chimera (paleontology)

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In modern palaeontology, falsified fossils of animals that simulate a prehistoric animal that did not exist in this form are called chimera . These are put together, put together from incompatible, genuine partial finds, in order to produce a more complete, rarer and therefore economically more valuable specimen for sale.

Examples

The best-known example is the archaeoraptor from Liaoning Province in northeast China , discovered in 1999 , which was seen as a link between birds and dinosaurs . The National Geographic made the alleged sensational discovery public. However, it turned out that someone had connected the fish-eating Yanornis martini's body to the tail feathers of a Microraptor zhaoianus dinosaur.

A scientific controversy arose over the dubious authenticity of a skull of the so-called "ancient cheetah" ( Acinonyx kurteni ), which is said to have come from the Linxia basin in the Gansu province , China. In the meantime, the falsification has also been proven by examining the original fossil; the original publication in the PNAS magazine has been withdrawn.

Situation in China

Doubtful finds often come from the People's Republic of China . The design of Chinese duplicates is often of such high quality that often only complex laboratory analyzes can reveal whether they are real finds or reproductions. There is a brisk market for composite fossils in China. Many local museums always come up trumps with supposed new discoveries, the authenticity of which often cannot be clearly proven. The Chinese vertebrate paleontologist Li Chun, quoted by Science Magazine, estimates that 80 percent of all marine dinosaurs currently on display in Chinese museums have been manipulated or even constructed. As a result of this fact, western, respected, scientific institutions are increasingly struggling for their own credibility, as individual unsecured objects repeatedly find their way into their collections.

literature

  • Kevin Padian (2000): Feathers, Fakes, and Fossil Dealers: How the Commercial Sale of Fossils Erodes Science and Education. Palaeontologia Electronica 3 (2) editorial 2: 8pp., 131 kB; http://palaeoelectronica.org .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Matthias Glaubrecht: Wrong Dino on tagesspiegel.de from July 12, 2013; Retrieved October 18, 2013
  2. ↑ Tao Deng (2012): PNAS paper about “Acinonyx kurteni” has been retracted. Vertebrata Palasiatica 50 (4): 381.
  3. ^ O. Mateus, M. Overbeeke F. Rita (2008): Dinosaur Frauds, Hoaxes and "Frankensteins": How to distinguish fake and genuine vertebrate fossils. Journal of Paleontological Techniques 2: 1-5.
  4. ^ Richard Stone: Altering the Past: China's Faked Fossils Problem (Summary) Science 330 (6012): 1740-1741. doi: 10.1126 / science.330.6012.1740