Fake fossils are among us and go virtually unnoticed by experts around the world. This is a serious problem: counterfeit specimens can trick paleontologists into studying an ancient past that never existed.
In a new study, my colleagues and I reveal a surprising truth about a fossil that has been celebrated for decades as one of the best-preserved fossils from the Alps.
The Tridentinosaurus antiquus was a small lizard-like reptile that lived during the Permian period (299-252 million years ago), where the Alps are now located. The specimen was discovered in 1931 and prized for what scientists thought were charred traces of skin visible on the surface of the rock. Generations of paleontologists thought the fossil was real, perhaps the oldest animal mummy ever discovered. This is partly because the type of preservation was rare.
The fossil has been reported in books and articles, but has never been studied in detail with modern techniques. Experts were unsure which group of reptiles the fossil belonged to. Our study hoped to resolve this and other long-running debates among scientists.
But our team discovered that the skin is actually fake. What was considered a well-preserved charred skin was merely a carved lizard-shaped body print covered in black paint.
However, the fossil is not a complete fake. The bones of the hind legs, especially the femurs, appear real. We also found some small, bony scales (called osteoderms, like the scales of crocodiles) preserved on what may have been the animal’s back.
Our preliminary examination using ultraviolet photography showed that the dark-colored body contours and all these bones and scales had been treated with some kind of coating material. Covering fossils with varnish or lacquer was a common practice in recent centuries – and is sometimes still necessary to preserve fossil specimens in museum cabinets and exhibits.
We hoped that under the coating layer the original soft tissues would still be in good condition. But chemical techniques showed that the material was a type of black paint made from animal bones, meaning the skin was indeed completely fake.
Unfortunately, this means we will never know what the original fossil actually looked like.
The circumstances behind this forgery are unknown, but we know it occurred before 1959 – the date of the fossil’s official scientific description. However, this discovery reminds us of the importance of reporting such specimens and combating fossil forgeries.
The history of fossil forgeries
The history of fossil falsification goes as far back as the beginnings of paleontology itself, with early reports dating back to the late 18th and 19th centuries.
This was mainly driven by the lucrative market of selling fossil specimens to private collectors and museums. For example, in the early 1860s, an original specimen of Archeopteryx (an avian dinosaur) sold for today’s equivalent of £85,000. Some people also forged fossils for scientific and social recognition.
Famous examples include a range of fossil types, from the Piltdown man (1912), an elaborate fraud in which a hominin was constructed from an amalgamation of human and ape bones, to Archeoraptor (1990), a chimera (a fossil reconstructed with elements taken from more than one single species or genus) formed by the skeletal parts of several dinosaurs to form a new specimen initially reported as genuine in National Geographic magazine in 1999 .
Other examples include cases of partial skulls of extinct mammals being supplemented with plastic bones. Sometimes a mixture of cement, resins, stone fragments and dust is used for this type of forgery. Counterfeiters may also use dark brown or black paint to alter the appearance of poorly preserved specimens, which would otherwise not be of interest to researchers or collectors.
This happened in the case of Mongolarachne chaoyangensis, a supposedly giant spider found in China. It turned out to be a poorly preserved crayfish after paleontologists took a closer look at it the same year, in 2019, published the first paper.
Scientists have discovered that natural history museums around the world have counterfeit specimens in their collections. While new technology helps in studying fossils trilobitesa genus of ancient marine invertebrates, here also shows that many specimens are fake.
The same happens with animal and plant remains fossilized in amber (fossil tree resin), acquired in historical times and only recently analyzed in detail with modern techniques.
The market for fake fossils is a big problem these days. This is especially the case in countries with less regulation. The fossil trade in Morocco alone is worth $40 million a year and produces fossil shows around the world.
Meanwhile, colonialism suppressed local expertise in South America – and as a result, a large number of studies of fossils from the region are based on specimens illegally transferred to collections in other countries, especially Germany and Japan.
We need governments around the world to introduce strong laws to protect our world’s paleontological and geological heritage.
The case of Tridentinosaurus antiquus is a cautionary tale. We believe our research can inform fossil preservation practices that are no longer appropriate, such as painting over fossils, and in turn outline more ethical actions to take when a fossil is discovered.
For example, the condition of a fossil at the time of discovery must be recorded in detail, together with information about when and where it was found and how it was prepared and preserved. Decorations should be avoided.
We may not be able to put an end to the making of fake fossils, but we are here and ready to expose them and protect our beautiful fossil heritage.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Valentina Rossi is currently at University College Cork. She receives funding from the Promotion of Educational Policy, University and Research Department of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol within the research project ‘Living with the supervolcano – How Athesian eruptions destroyed and preserved 15 million years of Permian life’ (no. 11 /34; CUP H32F20000010003) awarded to Prof. Evelyn Kustatscher (South Tyrol Nature Museum, Bolzano, Italy).