#genuine fossil turtle

[uk-fossils]

Fossil Turtle Shell – TRIONYX – Bouldnor Formation, Oligocene, Hamstead, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom

This listing features a genuine fossil turtle shell from the extinct genus Trionyx, discovered in the Bouldnor Formation at Hamstead, on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. This exceptional specimen dates back to the Oligocene Epoch of the Paleogene Period, offering a rare glimpse into post-dinosaur marine and freshwater environments.

Fossil Type & Species:

Type: Turtle Fossil (Shell/Carapace fragment)

Genus: Trionyx

A soft-shelled turtle known for its flattened shell and leathery carapace

Geological Context:

Era: Cenozoic

Period: Paleogene

Epoch: Oligocene (~33.9 to 23 million years ago)

Formation: Bouldnor Formation

Depositional Environment: Coastal swampy and estuarine conditions with periodic marine incursions, allowing for exceptional fossil preservation

Morphological Features:

Typically preserves broad, flat segments of the carapace

Characteristic fine pitting and subtle patterning seen in some Trionyx shell plates

Adapted for aquatic life with hydrodynamic form and soft-shell features

Scientific Importance:

Trionyx turtles are significant indicators of paleoenvironmental conditions, especially freshwater and nearshore settings

Their remains are used in biostratigraphy and paleoecological reconstructions of the Oligocene in Southern England

Taxonomic Classification:

Order: Testudines

Family: Trionychidae

Superfamily: Trionychoidea

Locality Information:

Hamstead, Isle of Wight, UK – an important fossil locality within the Bouldnor Formation, known for diverse Oligocene fauna including mammals, reptiles, and freshwater species

Authenticity & Display:

All of our fossils are 100% Genuine Specimens and come with a Certificate of Authenticity. The specimen pictured is the exact one you will receive.

Please refer to the photograph for full sizing details — the scale cube = 1cm.

This rare Trionyx fossil turtle shell fragment is a superb addition for collectors interested in reptilian evolution, Oligocene paleoenvironments, or British fossil heritage.

[theradioghost]

Actually I need to post about this because I need people to feel my pain/disgust/terror/indescribable but distinctly negative emotion which I am feeling.

(Life reconstruction by UnexpectedDinoLesson.)

This is Deinocheirus mirificus. It is my favorite dinosaur, and it is weird as fuck. Bigger than a T. rex, with arms eight feet long; an omnivore (afaik the only confirmed omnivorous dinosaur) that fed on plants and fish despite being a member of an ancestrally meat-eating lineage; likely feathered on at least part of its body despite its enormous size, topped off with an enormous sail or hump, and with a lengthy toothless bill. For fifty years all we knew was those bigass arms, which were enough to identify it as an ornithomimosaur, a group most famous for their similarity to ostriches. Except that, obviously, it was enormous. Then in 2014 came the end of a dramatic story of fossil poaching, international smuggling, and miraculous recovery resulting in two fantastic specimens which revealed to us that Deinocheirus is even weirder than just a giant ornithomimosaur. I saw someone call it a "moose goose" one time and I have never looked back.

I've got these two models of it and I enjoy them greatly :)

(Life reconstruction by PaleoNeolitic.)

This is Therizinosaurus cheloniformis. It is my younger sibling's favorite dinosaur, and it is weird as fuck. At thirty feet long, it is of a similar size to Deinocheirus, but taller due to its bizarre posture -- long-necked, pot-bellied, and tipped upright like an old-fashioned dinosaur toy. It is also likely to have been partly feathered, and was first discovered in the form of a set of massive claws (the largest known from literally any living thing, so large that they were originally classified as the ribs of a giant turtle) later supplemented by some proportionately large limbs. While Therizinosaurus has not been blessed with a full skeleton, we have discovered remains of quite a few other therizinosaurs, its closest relatives, which allow us to fill in the gaps. This includes a full skull from Erlikosaurus, showing that they had a birdlike keratinous beak at the front of their head and teeth further back in the mouth! (Some very early relatives may have been beakless. Also, please believe me about the beak, Tumblr image quality is hell on that lovely art; I recommend clicking through to better see the difference from the Deinocheirus beak.) Therizinosaurus is not in fact a turtle, but a maniraptoran -- the group of theropod dinosaurs which includes all modern birds as well as the dromaeosaurs, the little agile hunters often called "raptors." And yet! It was also an herbivore, using its big ol gut to ferment plant matter. I often see people call them dinosaur versions of giant sloths.

My sibling does have a model of it but we couldn't find it to take a picture :(

(I do also think that this skeletal comparison (which seems to originate from this forum thread) gives a better idea of the differences in shape and posture and internal anatomy between them than just looking at those reconstructions on their own. They really are quite different except for all the ways in which they are alike.)

(... Anyway.)

"Wow, Bobbie," you might think. "That's an amazing array of similarities for two dinosaurs that were not actually very closely related."

And I say, "You have no idea, for these two giant big-armed plant-eating weird-shaped descendants of meat-eating hunters lived in the exact same place and time!"

Which is the only fucking explanation I can give for why the toy company Recur has produced a Therizinosaurus with a Deinocheirus's head.

The website I found selling this claims that it is a "100% original design." I can't disagree with that, it is in fact maybe too original. It also says it has "museum-level detail" and unless the museum in question exists in the 1800s I can't give that one the same pass. This genuinely horrifies me. There are no shortage of dinosaur toys out there which deliberately mash together elements of different species but there is a world of difference between the silly fun of a Triceratops/Stegosaurus mutant with robot armor and battle damage!!!! and this understated, realistic-style figure of an animal THAT HAS A DIFFERENT ANIMAL'S HEAD STUCK TO IT.

Please understand, I look at these two animals a lot, I love them both, and this is like if someone was selling a toy "rhino" that just ... had a horse's head. Or the other way around. And they were marketing it based on its detail and accuracy to real rhino anatomy. I excitedly clicked on this while browsing, thinking there was a new Deinocheirus to add to my collection, and then I genuinely spent several minutes reading item descriptions in abject confusion before I realized what this was. Their other figures are actually really good and I'd kill to get my hands on their T. rex! And then there's ... this thing? Why?

[trenchgardens-ooc-ooc-ooc-ooc]

elaborating

Perpep:

Exploud looks like tube worms And Loud

Malamar is an aquatic mon who is associated with great psychic evil and malevolence? its extremely intelligent? inscrutable perhaps? horrorterror much?

Living in a conservationists personal wildlife preserve means a lot of wierd fellas who might be extinct in the wild. Caracosta is a turtle made of rocks and is a fossilmon thats exactly the kind of mon id expect in a preserve.

Golisopod is based off deep sea isopods, and its got a motif of fear and overwhelming power Tharts perpep.

Garchomp, Sharpedo, and potential therapod mon (tyrantrum and rampardios) all work with her motif of . powerful. scary. Garchomp and Sharpedo being aquatically themed as land and sea sharks fits right fast. the therapod mon fit with carracostas logic while also being themed around beserk rage. perpep :-)

tangrowth looks like tube worms to me. that and a horrorterror.

H goodra is a powerful mon, its also Cinimon.

Oftcas

Oftcas has a party of powerful mons. Annihilape is an Angry Motherfucker, its big, and its graywhite. Oftcas uses lusus fur cloaks to blend in. Same logic for HZork, even harder on the blending in. Not to mention how much she appreciates the crazy resistances of the two.

Abomasnow is huge, white, and scary, in Sinnoh anyway.

Galarian Linoon represents Mink Mom. MommaMink. a dark type long animal, Perpep fights dirty, its how shes survived.

Ursaluna just fits. She kind of has momma bear energy on one hand, on the other, like. big tanky wild animal.

Luxray can see through walls, has solid stats and resistances, its a formidible mon. Oftcas.

Somati

Somatis mon kind of fall into a few catagories. Narratively fitting, he would like this mon, and he would almost certainly have this mon for proximity. Garganacl. His planet is made of salt. Sneasler is a pokemon who would fit his vibe. theyd see eye to eye, even if he is a lot more of a pacifist, out of necessity. Gothitelle forsees the future, and mourns their trainers in advance. This on top of the just. like look at this pokemon. If this mon met him theyd be going to a mall in no time. food court beware. Musharna is a dream mon! cmon look at them . this tapir is going to nebulize all up over the place how could this mon not be on his team. Absol forsees doom, Xatu recieves visions of the future. bam.

Sanguine

all of these pokemon are bloodthirsty, cannibalistic, or have knives for hands. usually all three. one thing is i did forget to add one of them. i think it was a steel type but i genuinely dont remember which. skarmory?

Ferics is super self explanatory imo.

Half Iron is too

Detheo has a ton of cats. Speedy cats. Little guys with knives for hands. lil dudes who fuck you up

Gardener Detheo has pretty fish, Gallade, a noble swordsman, and Bisharp, a cutthroat bladeyboy. He hss wishiwashi, luminion and primarina because i mean. if those arent perpep at the beginning of her timeline i dont know what they are. He has vaporeon becau

Plexus has almost exclusively pokemon who have not yet reached their potential. Some are obvious like korvisquire and karrablast. She also has healing and kind pokemon like audino and eventually togekiss. Reunucleus is just a pokemon i associate with healing to be honest. I think its the cell division bit. Galarian Slobro is also cute and i needed to give her a pokemon who pew pew ok?

Azokie is kind of a malewife. Until he's a femalewife. All of her pokemon can be explained with this lens. shes just a really kind and affectionate person. And then theres her dad.

Dlicti has dead things. Dead things and Grottle, a humble pokemon made of gardens. Dead things she brings life to. Her planet is made of fossils, and her life is full of death.

HungJur's can be explained similarly. Beforan Dlicti was safe to explore her interests, finding out things about how those in the past lived their lives is his passion. their skarmory, however, represents how... Lawful Neutral they are. Lawful Neutral in a draconian society.

Calixtus has Spoink, a pink lil mon who needs to bounce to stay alive. Every second is a balancing act to make sure a bounce isnt too high or too low. And they know they cant keep this up forever. Espeon snd Medicham are pink, one heavily psychic, seeing the minds of others, the other literally balancing constantly. Hydreigon is a horrifying pokemon. Three heads. One mind. Only one mind. There used to be two. Only one mind. Three heads. A three headed serpent forged from erasure, one mind in predominion. Two heads who bicker and brawl.

Altaria is soft. Fluffy.

Rayqaza is a gigantic green snake who descends from the heavens to break up fights between two sibling gods.

Arf Arf, hello :3! Here to ask what Pokémon you think some of your ocs might have! - The Woofer, Canis

auuuuuu perpep has a um a uhhh a uhh a um a uhhh uhhhh milotic, lilleep, all of the fish pokemon especially tropicaland deep sea mons and she legally has to have a hisuian goodra- i had teams for them rmghh

i think Perpep: Milotic, Sharpedo, Exploud, Carracosta, Malamar, and her ace, Hisuian Goodra Carracosta could be switched with her Garchomp when needed, i feel like she would also have a tangrowth and one of the angry therapod dinomon like tyrantrum or rampardos, she also has a Golisopod Oftcas: Ursaluna, Annihilape, Galarian Linoon, Hisuian Zoroark, Abomasnow Luxray

Somati: Musharna, Gothitelle, Absol, Garganacl, Xatu, Sneasler i have no idea which would be his ace, i could say it for any of them, except absol, i just kind of dont like absol though. if legendaries are allowed swap absol for spectrier, just because it looks like him. i also feel like he would have a galarian linoon, a drifblim, mismagius, either zoruark, a morgrem, a spiritomb a... ok a lot of pokemon. oh also a galarian rapidash. actually swap the absol for galarian rapidash if you also dont like absol- absol is just here because of the lore its never been an interesting pokemon for me. design, mechanic, etc wise. also a mime jr. Also a Drednaw because thats his dad The Sanguine Garchomp (mega?), Kabutops, Kleavor, Lurantis, Galarian Sneasler also Ferics Porygon 2, Sandy Shocks, Stackatacka, Alolan Golem, Agron (mega?)

also a level 100 Mudsbray with perfect EV and IVs and holding an evolite. Their stall game is insane. They probably also have a billion charjabug running around

Halfiron Vikivolt, Metagross, Decidueye, Duraludon, Kingambit, and Inteleon (pew) Detheo (Niptur) Pawniard, Karvana, Fraxure, Meowstic (blue), Sinoanan Sneasel, Ninjask Detheo the Gardener Luminion, Gallade, Bisharp, Vaporeon, Wishiwashi, Primarina Plexus Axilla Karrablast (eventually Escavalier), Korvisquire (eventually Korviknight), Galarian Slowbro (pew), Audino, Togepi (eventually Togekiss), Duosion (eventually Reuniclus) Fasnak "Azokie" Axilla Sylveon, Minccino, Swoobat, Audino, Klefkey, Crabominable Dlicti Grottle (eventually Torterra), Cursola, Tyrantrum, Aurorus, Bastiodon, Archeops

Hung Jury Skarmory, Claydol, Probopass, Relicanth, Torterra, Crustle Calixtus Spoink, Espeon, Medicham, Hydraigon, Altaria ... and Rayquaza

[neo-jurassica]

Jurassic Crocodile 🐊 Not all reptiles living during the Jurassic were dinosaurs. Even in prehistoric Britain, animals we know today such as turtles, snakes, lizards & crocodiles were competing with dinosaurs to survive. 🦖🦎🐍🐢 . Follow @neojurassica to see more #prehistoric wonders! 🦕 . 🖥 www.neojurassica.com 🦖 Dinosaur Specialists 🦴 Genuine Fossils ⚙️ Display Customisation 🚚 Free UK Delivery ✈️ International Delivery . #crocodile #reptile #vertebra #bone #fossil #fossils #fossilhunting #nature #natural #naturalhistory #history #archeology #geology #paleontology #palaeontology #mystery #past #prehistory #prehistoricanimals #discovery #fossilhunter #jurassic #jurassicpark #jurassicworld #neojurassica #science #interesting #dinosaurs https://www.instagram.com/p/CSl-D_qNfz4/?utm_medium=tumblr

[igosploosh]

HCs for how the sides would play Animal Crossing~

Roman:

Has mastered the art of terraforming. Waterfalls everywhere

V large house with some of the best aesthetics you’ve ever seen. Spent literal days frantically trying to find the best furniture recipies, sold his soul for the ironwood kitchenette

Is like THIS close to having every flower color variation

Has a very strict list of villagers who are allowed to move to his island. If their aesthetic is wrong they’re banned, end of story

Says he doesn’t time travel but definitely does

Outfits. Are. On. Point. And YES, he spent a couple million bells on the solid gold crown. What if it?

Never has a lot of bells bc he spends them all on clothes and furniture

Seriously, I cannot stress how aesthetically pleasing his island is. Every bridge, tree, and rock is perfect. It took way longer than he’ll ever admit, but it was worth it

His island flag and tune change daily

Patton:

Actually liked Bunny Day, loves Zipper

Refuses to play at night because of the tarantulas. The first time he saw one he literally threw his switch

Entire house is Bunny Day furniture and stuffed animals. That’s it. That’s the aesthetic

Critterpedia is deveststingly empty, as is the museum

Says he loves all villager designs, but we know he’s lying

Like 8 of his villagers are the Cutest designs, but then he’s got like Chow and Tabby. Now that they’re on his island though, he loves them. Like, the Dad Instinct kicked in and he can’t see why someone would think they’re ugly

Has eight snapping turtles placed around the island

Cried when he accidentally hit a villager with his net

Logan:

His house is bigger than yours, but Roman had to decorate for him bc he had No Taste

All of his loans are paid off the day after he gets them, and public works projects take three hours. How does he do it?

He has an extremely well-organized orchard, with every single fruit type

He’s the reason Roman even has all those flower variations. It started off as an informal competition but now they’re racing to see who can complete the list first

Critterpedia? As full as it can be. Museum? Absolutely STOCKED with fish, bugs, and fossils. He’s horrified to learn that Patton has donated about three things at most

He had Roman help him build that anthropologist dig site that’s been going around on Twitter

His favorite villager is Raymond but he likes most of the cats

Almost threw his switch the 32nd time he dug up an egg instead of a fossil

Virgil:

He has. Like. A lot of tarantulas. Almost too many

Genuinely creeped out by Zipper

Bonded with Logan over the fact that Bunny Day took three years off their lives

Coco is on his island and he is terrified of her

Somehow managed to accumulate as many creepy objects as possible. He literally has a giant graveyard

The oarfish scarred him for life

Refuses to pay off his loans, so his house is stuck at three rooms

Hasn’t touched the terraforming option because he’s worried about irreparably messing up Island

Literally just has his character lay in bed next to a radio for an hour so he can listen to K.K. Slider

The other sides are very familiar with the sound of Virgil panicking after his fifth wasp hive of the day falls out of the tree he shook

*leaves rustling sound* *angry buzzing* “OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH F”

[orbemnews]

Uprooting Colonialism From the Fossil-Finding Field In 2019, Mohamad Bazzi, a doctoral student at Uppsala University in Sweden, launched an expedition to Tunisia in search of fossils. He and his colleagues traveled to the phosphate mines around the city of Gafsa, where 56 million-year-old rocks record a time of rapidly warming oceans and mass extinctions, particularly of apex predators like sharks. Mr. Bazzi made some distinctive choices for this paleontological expedition. For starters, his team hired Tunisians to help dig, rather than bringing students from his university. Mr. Bazzi and his colleagues also chose to reach out to the residents of Gafsa wherever possible, holding impromptu lectures on the area’s fossil history to interested onlookers. This was a contrast with the secretiveness of many paleontologists in the field, who might worry about their sites being raided for the fossil black market. The fossils the team collected from Gafsa are important for learning more about how animals adapted to the hothouse world of the Eocene, a period that may foretell what’s in store for the planet in coming years if carbon emissions don’t slow. But while Mr. Bazzi’s team removed the fossils from Tunisia, they did so under an agreement with local institutions that Mr. Bazzi himself insisted on: After he finished his research, the remains would be returned. Historically, these specimens are seldom returned, and locals may never see them again. But Mr. Bazzi and his colleagues are part of a movement among the next generation of paleontological researchers, one attempting to change scientific practices that descend directly from 19th century colonialism, which exploited native peoples and their natural histories. Over the last few decades, multiple countries have demanded the return of looted art, antiquities, cultural treasures and human remains from museum collections in North America and Europe. Countries such as Mongolia and Chile have likewise demanded the return of collected fossils, from tyrannosaur bones to the preserved remains of giant ground sloths. “There’s a consistent pattern with these specimens of high scientific or aesthetic value, where they’re taken out of the developing world and shipped abroad to be displayed and shown to a wider audience elsewhere,” Mr. Bazzi said. “There should be some balance so that local parties have a say in what happens to them.” Many countries with less money to spend on funding their own scientists are home to important fossil deposits that could drive major advances of our understanding of the prehistoric world. If the field of paleontology is to move forward, these researchers say, it’s important to figure out how to study specimens in these places without extending colonial legacies. That will take the development of a different approach to the field, more like the ones being tried by Mr. Bazzi and other scientists that rely less on extraction and more on collaboration with and the development of local institutions. While many cultures throughout human history have long traditions around collecting or studying fossil remains, the discipline of scientific paleontology — as well as the formation of modern natural history museums — arose in the 18th century, when European powers were actively colonizing large swaths of the globe. According to Emma Dunne, an Irish paleontologist at University of Birmingham in England, European scientists were part of a colonial network that sucked natural wealth — including fossils — into imperial capitals. In the 20th century, some countries pushed back. Brazil and Argentina provide government funding of paleontology. Those countries and others, such as Mongolia, established laws forbidding the export of fossils from within their borders. The two South American countries also mandate that foreign researchers work with local paleontologists for research on fossils found in the country. “You still do have non-Argentinian researchers working with local ones, for example,” said Nussaibah Raja-Schoob, a Mauritian paleontologist based at Germany’s University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. “But you definitely see that there is a bigger local influence.” Even in the aftermath of colonialism, however, fossils from across the globe still tend to end up in American and European museums. Some are collected through approved scientific expeditions. But because fossils are also traded privately, fossil-rich countries with fewer resources and legal protections often see interesting and potentially valuable finds put up for auction in Western markets. Questions about where fossils belong and who is best suited to work on them have sparked sharp controversies in recent years. In some cases, researchers have raised concerns about the ethics of working on such privately collected fossils — particularly those which may have been exported illegally. At the same time, paleontologists in Western countries have bristled at the rules required by countries like Brazil. In one case in 2015, David Martill, a paleobiologist at the University of Portsmouth in England, dismissed questions about his team’s lack of collaboration with Brazilian researchers on a specimen found there. “I mean, do you want me also to have a Black person on the team for ethnicity reasons, and a cripple and a woman, and maybe a homosexual too just for a bit of all round balance?” he said in an interview at the time with Herton Escobar, a Brazilian science journalist. Dr. Martill said in an interview in December that he chose his words poorly. But he said he remains opposed to laws that dictate where fossils go. In 2020, he was a co-author of a paper on another find exported from Brazil and described without a Brazilian co-author. “I do not think governments should dictate who works on fossils,” he said. “I think scientists should be able to choose who they work with.” These sorts of controversies are one example of the way the discipline’s colonial history lingers, Ms. Raja-Schoob says. But there are others. Much of global paleontology is still conducted in languages like English, German and French. And according to an ongoing research project by Ms. Raja-Schoob and Dr. Dunne, countries with higher G.D.P.s — places like the United States, France, Germany and China — tend to report more fossil data, in part because they have the money to invest in academic paleontology programs. Many institutions around the world have neither the tools nor enough government support for sophisticated studies of fossils. But that is something scientific institutions from wealthier countries can help with. “We have to ask why we’re bringing this knowledge to the centers, rather than spreading it out,” Dr. Dunne said. “We can work with things like 3-D scans of fossils, we can work with digital data sets. The problem obviously is getting funding for museums to do this for themselves.” Ms. Raja-Schoob said that academic funding could promote geology and paleontology in more countries. “Why not put that money into local people doing something?” she asked. “At the end of the day we are all going to be using that data. So why should they not also benefit?” While the fossil riches present in the rocks of North Africa and the Levant have long drawn fossil hunters and scientists, Mr. Bazzi said, the majority of fieldwork has resulted in fossils being exported to European or American institutions. Mr. Bazzi’s parents are from Lebanon, while his colleague Yara Haridy — a doctoral student at Berlin’s Museum für Naturkunde — was born in Egypt. Because of the lack of opportunities, neither can find steady academic work in paleontology in the Middle East. As part of their trip to Gafsa, both wanted to try to start building up paleontological resources instead of just removing them. That was part of what led Mr. Bazzi and Ms. Haridy — after many careful conversations with local participants over coffee and tea — to the ruins of a museum in the small mining town of Métlaoui. The museum had been burned down during the protests of the 2011 Jasmine Revolution that helped trigger the Arab Spring. It had not been restored, and on their third day in Tunisia, a mining engineer told them it might be worth visiting. Stepping carefully through the ruins, they found an unexpected wealth of fossil material: immense turtle shells, crocodile jawbones, dinosaur vertebrae and even ancient human remains, all scattered across dusty floors and charred rubble. The collection had to be salvaged, the team decided, but not taken out of the country. “Every other question we got was, ‘Oh, are you guys going to take this stuff?,’” Ms. Haridy said. “And we told them, no, it’s yours. It should stay here. It’s part of this region’s story.” Instead, they partnered with the people of Métlaoui to help them save the remains. Within a day, the town’s mayor and other community authorities had assembled local workers and students from Gafsa University. Mr. Bazzi’s team handed out gloves and masks and a stream of Métlaoui residents went to work pulling fossils from the ruins. “It was a pretty big operation,” Ms. Haridy said. “Everyone got really excited.” The team cataloged the bones before boxing and sending them to a government facility in Gafsa. The hope is that the museum remains will provide the nucleus for an ongoing paleontology program at Gafsa University; Mr. Bazzi has been helping to supervise interested students. One such student, Mohammed Messai, said that he didn’t know much about paleontology before meeting Mr. Bazzi, but that he’s now made identifying the fossils recovered from the museum part of the research for his master’s degree in science. It’s important for paleontologists to build genuine partnerships with local researchers, Ms. Haridy said. Not only does this create community engagement and prompt people to regard fossils as worth protecting, it also helps ensure that specimens are properly studied when they are returned to their country of origin. “There’s this problem where even if a country demands fossils back, like Egypt did for a long time, a lot of the paleontological knowledge doesn’t necessarily return with it,” she said. Without investing in independent paleontology programs in the countries in question, fossils can end up “consigned to a dusty room, where nobody knows what to do with it.” But efforts to create more inclusive and distributed paleontological networks face considerable headwinds. “Funders don’t necessarily put any emphasis on the ethical side of the research,” Dr. Dunne said. “We do rely a lot on other countries for their data. Fossils are worldwide, they’re global, they don’t respect political boundaries. But we should be identifying these patterns of colonial bias in our research and stopping them.” To some extent, the presence of these conversations is itself a sign of change. “When I began paleontology some 45 years ago these issues were of no concern,” Dr. Martill said. “Today, they seem to be dominating paleontological discussions. Perhaps it is me who is now out of touch.” He added that, “a fantastic new generation of paleontologists emerging and they are flexing their muscles and demanding different things.” For now, Mr. Bazzi’s team hopes to drive funding toward local paleontology in Tunisia. “Ideally, the Tunisian government would just believe these people on their own and agree that their fossils are important and worthy of preservation, and is of international interest,” Ms. Haridy said. “But they tend to get interested once scientists are actually actively trying to visit and actively trying to work with people.” “You now have local people starting to drive this themselves,” Mr. Bazzi said. “Eventually there will be no need for others to come and do it.” Source link Orbem News #Colonialism #field #FossilFinding #Uprooting

[demi-shoggoth]

COVID-19 Reading Log, part 2

I figured I’d split this up into smaller, less dashboard consuming chunks from now on. Five books at a time.

11. The Rise of Reptiles by Hans-Dieter Sues. This is essentially a 300 page literature review about reptile diversity and phylogenetics. Most of the text is long lists of clades and their unifying characteristics. The book is amply illustrated with diagrams and color photographs of both fossils and living species. Something that struck me as weird was the varying coverage given to different alternate hypotheses of evolutionary relationships. The resolution of squamates, specifically where to put snakes and mosasaurs, gets paragraphs of coverage. The re-arrangement of dinosaurs in the “Ornithoscelida hypothesis” gets two sentences. The idea that marine reptiles are united with turtles into the Pan-Testudines isn’t mentioned at all. I initially thought that this lack of coverage was due to the author’s research focus, but I looked it up—Sues was co-author on the paper proposing the Pan-Testudines! This book is an excellent resource for active research scientists, but is a slog to read. I do not recommend it as a book to curl up with for recreational purposes, but I’m glad it exists.

12. Fairies: A Dangerous History by Richard Sugg. This is an odd one. The overall thesis of the book is one I can get behind—faerie beliefs in the British Isles are and were more complicated and more important than they are often dismissed as in the modern era. But Sugg appears to genuinely believe that faeries literally exist, along with poltergeists, psychic healing and other paranormal bits. He admits that, as a folklorist and historian, he puts great credence to stories. The text of the book meanders frequently. There are digressions about the history of child actors, how horny the author is for the work of Keats, and plenty of Christianity bashing. Some of the best material is the collection of stories of faerie sightings, both in the past (the oldest are Elizabethan) and in the present day.

13. The Vulgar Wasp by Phil Lester. The titular vulgar wasp is Vespa vulgaris, the common wasp of Europe, and it is an invasive species in much of the world. This book is focused on New Zealand specifically, but it does discuss the biology of social wasps in general, the biochemistry of wasp venom and the debate in the scientific community over what it means to be an “invasive” species. In this book, I learned about the honeydew beech forests of New  Zealand, a unique ecology endangered by the wasps—and in its natural state it is pure Ghibli. The writing is light and often funny, and Lester clearly has both a love for his work and a sense of humor. The book is short at 169 pages with ample color photographs.

14. Outbreak! by Beth Skwarecki. This subtitle of the book is “fifty tales of epidemics that terrorized the world”, the most recent being the Ebola epidemic of 2014. Each chapter is short, about three or four pages. Some diseases are repeated, so malaria, smallpox and influenza get more detail than, say, sleeping sickness or dengue. Unusually for pop-science books about disease, this also covered several nutrient deficiencies—scurvy, beriberi and pellagra. The last paragraph of chapter 49 has aged either very poorly, or very well, depending on how you look at it. “SARS cases are now gone from the world, but public health officials still worry about the potential for a fatal, highly contagious coronavirus to star in another epidemic.”

15. Monster Masterworks by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby et. al. This is a collection of 18 Marvel Comics’ stories from the 50s, featuring monsters. Most Marvel Monsters, for those unaware, are between 15 and 30 feet tall, narrate their actions, and wear little shorts. A surprising number of them are created accidentally by artists or other creative types. They’re all ridiculous, in a fun way. The collection starts and ends with the most famous of the Marvel Monsters. Groot is first, Fin Fang Foom is last. Also collected here is “Titan, The Amphibian from Atlantis!”, which must have been on Alan Moore’s mind when he wrote Watchmen. Somewhat disappointing is the image quality in the book. Several pages are much blurrier than the rest. This was published in the tail end of 1989—perhaps it was a printing error in the earlier days of digital printing, or their archives were missing some pages.

[eemasu]

I think that it was silly that Alola didn't have fossil pokémon just because the real Hawai'i land formation did not exist for long enough to form genuine fossils. there is still a huge number of Hawai'ian bird species that went extinct over the last few thousand years and are only now known because of the subfossil record. there were giant flightless geese, flightless ibises, a duck that behaved like a kiwi, and a finch that was so absurdly large for its clade that it was given the name of King Kong Grosbeak.

and beyond Hawai'i, there are unique reptiles from other Pacific islands that became recently extinct. New Caledonia had a turtle with spikes on its head, and a small tree-dwelling crocodile. Fiji and Tonga each had a large iguana species. all of these are animals that could easily have had pokémon that were based on them.

[uk-fossils]

Fossil Turtle Shell – TRIONYX – Bouldnor Formation, Oligocene, Hamstead, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom

This listing features a genuine fossil turtle shell from the extinct genus Trionyx, discovered in the Bouldnor Formation at Hamstead, on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. This exceptional specimen dates back to the Oligocene Epoch of the Paleogene Period, offering a rare glimpse into post-dinosaur marine and freshwater environments.

Fossil Type & Species:

Type: Turtle Fossil (Shell/Carapace fragment)

Genus: Trionyx

A soft-shelled turtle known for its flattened shell and leathery carapace

Geological Context:

Era: Cenozoic

Period: Paleogene

Epoch: Oligocene (~33.9 to 23 million years ago)

Formation: Bouldnor Formation

Depositional Environment: Coastal swampy and estuarine conditions with periodic marine incursions, allowing for exceptional fossil preservation

Morphological Features:

Typically preserves broad, flat segments of the carapace

Characteristic fine pitting and subtle patterning seen in some Trionyx shell plates

Adapted for aquatic life with hydrodynamic form and soft-shell features

Scientific Importance:

Trionyx turtles are significant indicators of paleoenvironmental conditions, especially freshwater and nearshore settings

Their remains are used in biostratigraphy and paleoecological reconstructions of the Oligocene in Southern England

Taxonomic Classification:

Order: Testudines

Family: Trionychidae

Superfamily: Trionychoidea

Locality Information:

Hamstead, Isle of Wight, UK – an important fossil locality within the Bouldnor Formation, known for diverse Oligocene fauna including mammals, reptiles, and freshwater species

Authenticity & Display:

All of our fossils are 100% Genuine Specimens and come with a Certificate of Authenticity. The specimen pictured is the exact one you will receive.

Please refer to the photograph for full sizing details — the scale cube = 1cm.

This rare Trionyx fossil turtle shell fragment is a superb addition for collectors interested in reptilian evolution, Oligocene paleoenvironments, or British fossil heritage.

[jemimacaleyfmpyear1]

EVALUATION

For my Final Major Project i knew I wanted to choose natural and artificial out of the flipside themes as I am very interested in the world around us and issues within the environment, because of this I chose to look at environmental issues caused my man. One of the main problems caused by humans is plastic pollution and fish netting so i decided to investigate that topic further.

At the beginning we all had to think of words that related to our flipside themes such as for natural i thought of particular words which are a complete opposite to artificial like genuine and real and then for the opposite which is artificial I thought of words like, fake, Botox and unreal. I did also look at words which are in the wider world like fossils, growth, foliage, breathable, pollution, manufacturing and landfill but due to my topic of man made structures and products I thought I should stick with the main words of fake and real.

With the help of my own photography and inspiring artists like David Ambarzumjan and Olafur Eliasson I became more confident in my ideas and outcomes. Initially I knew I wanted to do something which would relate to life and death due to man made structures or products, a perfect example of that would be plastic pollution and how it traps innocent animals like fish, dolphins, turtles, sharks, whales, birds and seals. At first I thought of doing a painting inspired by the artist David Ambarzumjan who creates realistic and impressive landscapes which is either natural or artificial and then puts the opposite side on the top with a clean, white brushstroke so you as the viewer can see the clear difference between each side. Another artist who really motivated me was Olafur Eliasson who created real, 3D structures of ice which slowly melted away in the middle of London to create a better idea of global warming for passers to witness, this encouraged me to go for another idea which was to use real 3D resources like fish netting and plastic bags within my outcomes to create a realistic affect.

During my final major project I thought about learning more about disasters which has happened in the world due to humans, so i decided to watch a documentary film about the famous Chernobyl which highlights how nature eventually takes back their community after humans fled there homes. The film talked about how various animals like wolves and wild cats came back to the scenes of the nuclear disaster and reclaimed their positions in the surrounding forests and brambles. The documentary explained how new life and habitat is now living in the sites of the Chernobyl devastation.

After achieving research and various planning for my FMP I decided I wanted to do something more then just a standard painting and I began reasoning with creating a digital outcome so I had both graphic and hand based work to hand in at the end which I hoped would push my grade up. For my outcomes I needed to use material, plastic, thread, pens and photoshop to develop my final ideas into real outcomes.

After reflecting back on all of my work within this topic I think my best work is definitely the digital photo book, which is filled with my own photography as that particular piece of work is extremely neat, professional and stylish so overall that piece was immensely successful.

My initial ideas kept changing right from the beginning as even though I knew I wanted to do natural and artificial I didn’t know what I wanted to include within that topic and at first I thought I would want to do a painting as my main outcome but that then changed later on in the topic. I did achieve the idea of the fish painting underneath the real fish netting to create the illusion of them being ‘trapped’ underneath but I just added it as a practical task as my two other outcomes I believe are better and I don’t think it was good enough to be displayed as an outcome.

At the beginning of our FMP I didn’t think I would design a digital outcome and I was planning on just creating hand based outcomes, I decided to change my mind throughout the project as I thought it was a good idea to do both graphics and fine art, so there is a wide variety of difference between both outcomes.

If I could display my work anywhere in the world I think I would show it in China as they are the leaders of the most plastic producing county in the whole world, probably due to them being the most populated. China produces roughly 60 million tonnes a year of plastic just ahead of the United States. If I had the opportunity to display it in China I would of displayed it in the early 1980s when pollution was getting worse.

If I had to pick a soundtrack to go with my project I think I would pick ‘save the whales’ by Nick Kershaw as it’s obviously about saving whales and one of the lyrics within the song says about men so it really does link to my project which is about men destroying the marine life.

If I could describe my outcomes in 10 words I would say they are both, professional, neat, bold, eye-catching, simple, uncomplicated, tidy, moving, surprising and Impressive.

[subarusumeragi]

im playing story of seasons trio of towns so here’s a clamp harvest moon au

sakura - farmer (protagonist) favorite gift: sakura (flower) liked gifts: flowers, various desserts, flower bouquets, farm products plus, fertilizer, all flower bouquets, best chicken feed, best rabbit feed, pink diamond horror gift: konnyaku

syaoran - archaeologist/ruins explorer favorite gift: ancient figurine liked gifts: gemstones, pearls, various rice dishes, ancient fish fossil, coins horror gift: ???  

fai - restaurant owner favorite gift: sweet sake  liked gifts: wine, milk plus, egg plus, cheese, butter, flour, various desserts, fluorite, various crops, seasonings  horror gift: sashimi

kurogane - handyman favorite gift: grape wine  liked gifts: black branch, black lumber, black rock, black stone, lumber, stone, grilled fish, sashimi, wine, adamantite,  horror gift: hot milk 

subaru - animal shopkeeper favorite gift: ???  liked gifts: various desserts, various snacks, pink carnation, egg plus, silkie egg plus, cherry branch, various flowers, animal treats, cat bell, dog bone  horror gift: turtle stew 

hokuto - clothing shopkeeper favorite gift: golden linen thread liked gifts: cloth plus, golden thread and fabric, silver thread and fabric, various gemstones, various desserts and snacks horror gift: boot

seishirou - town doctor favorite gift: it’s a secret! liked gifts: medicine, sweet sake, wine, posion mushroom, various herbs, various stews and soups, energy booster, various desserts horror gift: ???

the ones with ??? i genuinely couldnt think of sorry. also the actual gift lists for hm/sos characters are like 100 items and i dont have time for that

also theres no konnyaku or sakura flowers in the actual game/s but its fine

[neo-jurassica]

As it’s #museummonday, here is an incredible #turtle shell from the Earth Hall in the @naturalhistorymuseum in London. 🇬🇧
.
Follow @neojurassica to see more #prehistoric wonders! 🦕
.
🖥 www.neojurassica.com
🦖 Dinosaur Specialists
🦴 Genuine Fossils
⚙️ Display Customisation
🚚 Free UK Delivery
✈️ International Delivery
.
#reptile #extinct #evolution #shell #dinosaur #dinosaurs #fossil #fossils #extinction #fossilhuntingg #fossilprep #rocks #minerals #geology #museum #naturalhistorymuseum #naturalhistory #palaeontology #paleontology #paleobiology #science #nerd #geek #archaeology #jurassicpark #jurassicworld #neojurassica
https://www.instagram.com/p/CDJMDMtpvz_/?igshid=15unbockz38rj

[ireadnowi]

Epic Places to Visit in USA

The US may be a great land with all kinds of landscapes: incredible deserts, jaw-dropping waterfalls, paradisiac beaches, and lively cities.

That’s why this USA travel bucket list has fifty items and not only a couple of spots as was common. We asked experts what the simplest places to travel within the US are and for that reason believe me: this US bucket list is remarkable!

The best places to go to within the US, amazing foodie experiences, breathtaking adventures, inspiring road trips, and more, much more!

This US bucket list has it all! and therefore the better part about it? It’s jam-packed of insider’s tips!

So make certain to send this list to your boy/ girlfriend or friends and plan your next trip around America. One thing is for sure: you'll find something that you simply both will love!

Want to understand the simplest places to go to in the USA? Read on!

1. Hike the Angels Landing at Zion park If you ever end up within the state of Utah, you ought to make time for exploring Zion park.

More specifically, for hiking one among the prettiest and challenging routes within the park called Angels Landing, this an incredible USA travel bucket list item. However not for those that have a fear of heights!

Before starting the hike, please confirm you've got many water and snacks with you during a backpack.

Officially the route is merely 4 km/ 5 miles round; however, the elevation is 1,488 feet, so an honest condition is suggested.

Summer and fall are the simplest months because it can get extremely dangerous and icy in winter. But spring is far and away the simplest season to go to, making it an excellent respite resort area.

The free shuttle will take you straight from the visitor center to the beginning of the hike. it's possible for several who are frightened of heights to hike to the Scout Lookout point for a few fantastic views.

However, to succeed in the highest, it's just for those that genuinely haven't any fears as there are sheer drops and therefore the smallest single pathway up to the highest. confirm to use the chains along the thanks to helping.

Reaching the highest shows the foremost breath-taking views of Zion park.

Find a spot to take a seat down and provides yourself a while to absorb all that you simply can see, also as being proud that you simply just climbed up the challenging, mentally and physically, the route to the highest.

But to form your trip complete you'll want to remain during a unique place... Out of our 2-week road trip through the US, hiking Angels Landing was the simplest thing we did! Zion NP is one of the simplest places to go to in the USA for sure!

2. The road trip down the key One of the long-lasting road trips within the US is to the top of Highway 1 on the East Coast down the key to Key West and therefore the southernmost point within the USA.

This highway passes through small islands and long bridges that make it such a memorable drive.

Each of the tiny communities along the journey from Key Largo (made famous by Bogart and Lauren Bacall) to Key West features a beach town quite a vibe, but Key West stands out as a celebration town and collector of strange characters.

Key West has attracted authors just like the hard-drinking Hemingway and therefore the children’s author Judy Blume. it's the Margaritaville from Jimmy Buffet’s song and therefore the presidential retreat of Harry S. Truman.

Along the route, you'll take a ride on the first African Queen boat from the Bogart movie once you are in Key Largo, visit a state park where they mined fossilized coral for the bridges and buildings of the key, visit one among the simplest museums dedicated to diving and visit a marine turtle hospital.

When you reach the top of the road in Key West, you'll also get on a ship and head bent Dry Tortugas park to the old Fort Jefferson that protected this a part of the US waterways. 3. Enjoy some jazz in Harlem Harlem, in any City, is one of the foremost culturally rich neighborhoods within the city, which makes it one of the simplest places to go to in the USA.

In the early 1900s, African-Americans began to flock from the south in great numbers driven by industrialization and economic opportunities within the north resulting in the movement referred to as the Harlem Renaissance.

This movement greatly influenced the arts; literature and particularly music.

The world of music was considerably amplified with the enrichment of artists like Chuck Webb, Armstrong et al. who, besides delivering electrifying performances, also lay the inspiration for multiple musical genres.

Nowhere is that this creativity as visible today as in Harlem’s great jazz clubs.

Many African-American musical artists started their careers at The Apollo Theater since it opened within the 40s; Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, The Godfather of Soul, James Brown and Gladys Knight.

The theater remains one of New York’s great art venues. On Amateur Night, happening most Wednesdays, you would possibly catch an up and coming star within the making.

My favorite brunch location The Cecil on 118th Street which has now merged with Minton’s Playhouse nearby – an excellent spot for decent food and funky jazz. There are many places to concentrate on jazz in Harlem. Picking only one is difficult. They’re all good.

Minton has been around for an extended time and is superb for food and shows. Other venues include Gin Fizz Harlem and Smoke Jazz Club. Red Rooster books exciting performers and features a great band.

Also, you'll find relatively affordable accommodation in Harlem... Wrapping abreast of the USA travel bucket list These are unique bucket list ideas, and that we decide to visit and knowledge most of them during our road trip across the US!

What’s your USA travel bucket list? What are the simplest places to go to within the US in your opinion? Share it below! we might like to hear from you!

[wikitopx]

Located in the southern part of the Netherlands, Maastricht is a lovely little city known for its vibrant culture and medieval architecture.

This city is home to Sint Jansjerk a Gothic-style church and the Bonnefanten Museum lies on the banks of the Maas River. Some of the best places to visit include the Basilica of Saint Servatius, an 11th-century cathedral that hosts holy treasures, and the famous Vrijhof, a large, café-lined square with a beautiful fountain, and the perfect place to enjoy shopping and dining. Visit Mount Saint Peter and get breathtaking views of the plateau with amazing castle and monastery ruins. If you’re planning to make this humble but unique city a part of your places to see, then you should know exactly the best places to go and things to do in Maastricht, the Netherlands.

1. Explore the historical caves and tunnels at Maastricht Underground

If you love caving or spelunking, then spare some time to come and explore the historic tunnels and caves at Maastricht Underground. discover the wonders of Maastricht Underground as you enter the dark and secretive caves and tunnels where the world of internet doesn’t exist, explore and learn about the underground’s history, and experience what it is like to take cover underground, hiding away from danger.

2. Go shopping at Market Square

Market Square is actually one of two squares in this beautiful city where you can genuinely buy quality goods. The Market Square is home to a statue portraying Jan Pieter Minckelers, an 18th-century professor holding an eternal burning flame. The market opens weekly with several vendors flowing in ready with their merchandise. From antiquities to fresh farm produce, the market is known to have almost everything you need and can think of.

3. Stroll along St. Servaas bridge for great views of Meuse river and Maastricht

[caption id="attachment_705178" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]  [/caption]

Feeling like taking a nice stroll to stretch out? Turn your compass towards St Servaas bridge,then take a moment to marvel at its structure. Stop and take in the stunning views of Maastricht and the river Meuse as you enjoy the tranquility that comes with the view and the calming atmosphere. The bridge is named after Saint Servatius, the first bishop of Maastricht, it was initially a wooden bridge built by Romans to cross the Meuse and later renovated and constructed using limestone.

4. Visit the ruins of Lichtenberg Castle

Come and explore the majestic ruins of the Lichtenberg Castle. Known by locals as Kasteel Lichtenberg, these amazing ruins nest on Mons Luci’ mountain on the southern part of Maastricht. Though no Roman tower remains standing in the ruins, the Romans used this site for signaling and giving them a more defensive vantage point. The castle is now sitting on a vertical, bare limestone cliff due to open quarrying.

5. Browse through religious artifacts at Basilica of St. Servatius

Spare some of your time to browse through the amazing artifacts and religious iconography from ages past at the Basilica of St. Servatius located in Vrithof square. This mostly Romanesque-style church is also dedicated to St. Servatius, and is religiously significant for being built on the saint’s resting place, as well as housing other relics. Beautiful Vrithof square was converted from a Roman and Frankish cemetery and renovated into a square full of life where people can gather and enjoy their time. The square is surrounded by restaurants, bars, a museum and theater, and heritage building.

6. Enjoy stunning views from the top of Fort Sint Pieter

If you are a fan of capturing perfect views and are not afraid of heights, then embark on this adventure. Climb to the top of Fort Sint Pieter to get breathtaking views across the River Meuse and Maastricht. Constructed in 1702, this military stone fort was used to strategically defend the city of Maastricht. Once called the Iron City, this hexagonal fort is full of caves and tunnels ready for defensive stance but only got to see battle once. Today, it is a place you can go to fully enjoy the beauty of Maastricht and its surrounding natural landscape–a truly unforgettable sight!

7. Discover the Netherlands' Hell's Gate

Come and visit the Netherlands’ Helpoort, also known as Hell’s Gate. Considered as the oldest gate in the Netherlands, its construction was commissioned as part of the first city walls and an entrance to the southern part of Maastricht. The gate derived its name from the fact that prisoners were jailed in the gate’s tower. Over the years, Hell’s Gate has served as a storage space, a workshop, and residence. Now, it hosts a museum showcasing the city’s history.

8. Explore and learn at Maastricht Natural History Museum

See the ancient fossils and other specimens on display at Maastricht Natural History Museum and learn a thing or two about the geology and flora and fauna of the region. The museum is located in a former monastery called Monastery of the Gray Sisters in the district of Jekerkwartier. Some of the collections and exhibits showcased in the museum include Cretaceous era fossils, specimens of Hoffmann’s giant turtle, and the skull of a Mosasaur.

9. Marvel at the Romanesque architecture of the Basilica of our Lady

Stop and a take a moment to marvel and appreciate the true beauty of the Romanesque-style Basilica of our Lady. This truly stunning church was constructed in the 1100s, combining features of local, Byzantine, and Roman traditions. From its distinctive round arches, towers, and thick walls, one can’t stop wondering just how much work, effort, sweat, and dedication was put into building such a gem without modern technology. Truly a sight you can’t miss when in Maastricht.

10. Wander around the vast Boekhandel Dominicanen

[caption id="attachment_705192" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]  [/caption]

For bookworms, the Boehandel Dominicanen is an absolute must-visit, a book haven located in the city of Maastricht. It is a great place to explore and just wander around, first trying to see if you can catalog which amazing and best-selling books are on-shelf before jumping right into in your favorite section. This bookworm paradise is located in a 700-year-old Dominican church and is the perfect place for you to look for a particular title. Take some time to chill out and get some reading done on your Maastricht vacation at Boekhandel Dominicanen with its great ambiance and inspired collections, a perfect environment for losing yourself in the literature.

Read also: Top 10 things to do in Utrecht at night

From : https://wikitopx.com/travel/top-10-things-to-do-in-maastricht-705170.html

[orbemnews]

Uprooting Colonialism From the Fossil Finding Field In 2019, Mohamad Bazzi, a doctoral student at Uppsala University in Sweden, launched an expedition to Tunisia in search of fossils. He and his colleagues traveled to the phosphate mines around the city of Gafsa, where 56 million-year-old rocks record a time of rapidly warming oceans and mass extinctions, particularly of apex predators like sharks. Mr. Bazzi made some distinctive choices for this paleontological expedition. For starters, his team hired Tunisians to help dig, rather than bringing students from his university. Mr. Bazzi and his colleagues also chose to reach out to the residents of Gafsa wherever possible, holding impromptu lectures on the area’s fossil history to interested onlookers. This was a contrast with the secretiveness of many paleontologists in the field, who might worry about their sites being raided for the fossil black market. The fossils the team collected from Gafsa are important for learning more about how animals adapted to the hothouse world of the Eocene, a period that may foretell what’s in store for the planet in coming years if carbon emissions don’t slow. But while Mr. Bazzi’s team removed the fossils from Tunisia, they did so under an agreement with local institutions that Mr. Bazzi himself insisted on: After he finished his research, the remains would be returned. Historically, these specimens are seldom returned, and locals may never see them again. But Mr. Bazzi and his colleagues are part of a movement among the next generation of paleontological researchers, one attempting to change scientific practices that descend directly from 19th century colonialism, which exploited native peoples and their natural histories. Over the last few decades, multiple countries have demanded the return of looted art, antiquities, cultural treasures and human remains from museum collections in North America and Europe. Countries such as Mongolia and Chile have likewise demanded the return of collected fossils, from tyrannosaur bones to the preserved remains of giant ground sloths. “There’s a consistent pattern with these specimens of high scientific or aesthetic value, where they’re taken out of the developing world and shipped abroad to be displayed and shown to a wider audience elsewhere,” Mr. Bazzi said. “There should be some balance so that local parties have a say in what happens to them.” Many countries with less money to spend on funding their own scientists are home to important fossil deposits that could drive major advances of our understanding of the prehistoric world. If the field of paleontology is to move forward, these researchers say, it’s important to figure out how to study specimens in these places without extending colonial legacies. That will take the development of a different approach to the field, more like the ones being tried by Mr. Bazzi and other scientists that rely less on extraction and more on collaboration with and the development of local institutions. While many cultures throughout human history have long traditions around collecting or studying fossil remains, the discipline of scientific paleontology — as well as the formation of modern natural history museums — arose in the 18th century, when European powers were actively colonizing large swaths of the globe. According to Emma Dunne, an Irish paleontologist at University of Birmingham in England, European scientists were part of a colonial network that sucked natural wealth — including fossils — into imperial capitals. In the 20th century, some countries pushed back. Brazil and Argentina provide government funding of paleontology. Those countries and others, such as Mongolia, established laws forbidding the export of fossils from within their borders. The two South American countries also mandate that foreign researchers work with local paleontologists for research on fossils found in the country. “You still do have non-Argentinian researchers working with local ones, for example,” said Nussaibah Raja-Schoob, a Mauritian paleontologist based at Germany’s University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. “But you definitely see that there is a bigger local influence.” Even in the aftermath of colonialism, however, fossils from across the globe still tend to end up in American and European museums. Some are collected through approved scientific expeditions. But because fossils are also traded privately, fossil-rich countries with fewer resources and legal protections often see interesting and potentially valuable finds put up for auction in Western markets. Questions about where fossils belong and who is best suited to work on them have sparked sharp controversies in recent years. In some cases, researchers have raised concerns about the ethics of working on such privately collected fossils — particularly those which may have been exported illegally. At the same time, paleontologists in Western countries have bristled at the rules required by countries like Brazil. In one case in 2015, David Martill, a paleobiologist at the University of Portsmouth in England, dismissed questions about his team’s lack of collaboration with Brazilian researchers on a specimen found there. “I mean, do you want me also to have a Black person on the team for ethnicity reasons, and a cripple and a woman, and maybe a homosexual too just for a bit of all round balance?” he said in an interview at the time with Herton Escobar, a Brazilian science journalist. Dr. Martill said in an interview in December that he chose his words poorly. But he said he remains opposed to laws that dictate where fossils go. In 2020, he was a co-author of a paper on another find exported from Brazil and described without a Brazilian co-author. “I do not think governments should dictate who works on fossils,” he said. “I think scientists should be able to choose who they work with.” These sorts of controversies are one example of the way the discipline’s colonial history lingers, Ms. Raja-Schoob says. But there are others. Much of global paleontology is still conducted in languages like English, German and French. And according to an ongoing research project by Ms. Raja-Schoob and Dr. Dunne, countries with higher G.D.P.s — places like the United States, France, Germany and China — tend to report more fossil data, in part because they have the money to invest in academic paleontology programs. Many institutions around the world have neither the tools nor enough government support for sophisticated studies of fossils. But that is something scientific institutions from wealthier countries can help with. “We have to ask why we’re bringing this knowledge to the centers, rather than spreading it out,” Dr. Dunne said. “We can work with things like 3-D scans of fossils, we can work with digital data sets. The problem obviously is getting funding for museums to do this for themselves.” Ms. Raja-Schoob said that academic funding could promote geology and paleontology in more countries. “Why not put that money into local people doing something?” she asked. “At the end of the day we are all going to be using that data. So why should they not also benefit?” While the fossil riches present in the rocks of North Africa and the Levant have long drawn fossil hunters and scientists, Mr. Bazzi said, the majority of fieldwork has resulted in fossils being exported to European or American institutions. Mr. Bazzi’s parents are from Lebanon, while his colleague Yara Haridy — a doctoral student at Berlin’s Museum für Naturkunde — was born in Egypt. Because of the lack of opportunities, neither can find steady academic work in paleontology in the Middle East. As part of their trip to Gafsa, both wanted to try to start building up paleontological resources instead of just removing them. That was part of what led Mr. Bazzi and Ms. Haridy — after many careful conversations with local participants over coffee and tea — to the ruins of a museum in the small mining town of Métlaoui. The museum had been burned down during the protests of the 2011 Jasmine Revolution that helped trigger the Arab Spring. It had not been restored, and on their third day in Tunisia, a mining engineer told them it might be worth visiting. Stepping carefully through the ruins, they found an unexpected wealth of fossil material: immense turtle shells, crocodile jawbones, dinosaur vertebrae and even ancient human remains, all scattered across dusty floors and charred rubble. The collection had to be salvaged, the team decided, but not taken out of the country. “Every other question we got was, ‘Oh, are you guys going to take this stuff?,’” Ms. Haridy said. “And we told them, no, it’s yours. It should stay here. It’s part of this region’s story.” Instead, they partnered with the people of Métlaoui to help them save the remains. Within a day, the town’s mayor and other community authorities had assembled local workers and students from Gafsa University. Mr. Bazzi’s team handed out gloves and masks and a stream of Métlaoui residents went to work pulling fossils from the ruins. “It was a pretty big operation,” Ms. Haridy said. “Everyone got really excited.” The team cataloged the bones before boxing and sending them to a government facility in Gafsa. The hope is that the museum remains will provide the nucleus for an ongoing paleontology program at Gafsa University; Mr. Bazzi has been helping to supervise interested students. One such student, Mohammed Messai, said that he didn’t know much about paleontology before meeting Mr. Bazzi, but that he’s now made identifying the fossils recovered from the museum part of the research for his master’s degree in science. It’s important for paleontologists to build genuine partnerships with local researchers, Ms. Haridy said. Not only does this create community engagement and prompt people to regard fossils as worth protecting, it also helps ensure that specimens are properly studied when they are returned to their country of origin. “There’s this problem where even if a country demands fossils back, like Egypt did for a long time, a lot of the paleontological knowledge doesn’t necessarily return with it,” she said. Without investing in independent paleontology programs in the countries in question, fossils can end up “consigned to a dusty room, where nobody knows what to do with it.” But efforts to create more inclusive and distributed paleontological networks face considerable headwinds. “Funders don’t necessarily put any emphasis on the ethical side of the research,” Dr. Dunne said. “We do rely a lot on other countries for their data. Fossils are worldwide, they’re global, they don’t respect political boundaries. But we should be identifying these patterns of colonial bias in our research and stopping them.” To some extent, the presence of these conversations is itself a sign of change. “When I began paleontology some 45 years ago these issues were of no concern,” Dr. Martill said. “Today, they seem to be dominating paleontological discussions. Perhaps it is me who is now out of touch.” He added that, “a fantastic new generation of paleontologists emerging and they are flexing their muscles and demanding different things.” For now, Mr. Bazzi’s team hopes to drive funding toward local paleontology in Tunisia. “Ideally, the Tunisian government would just believe these people on their own and agree that their fossils are important and worthy of preservation, and is of international interest,” Ms. Haridy said. “But they tend to get interested once scientists are actually actively trying to visit and actively trying to work with people.” “You now have local people starting to drive this themselves,” Mr. Bazzi said. “Eventually there will be no need for others to come and do it.” Source link Orbem News #Colonialism #field #finding #fossil #Uprooting

[nofomoartworld]

Miami’s Sprawling Frost Science Museum Is Finally Open

The Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science opened to the public on May 8, and it's a sprawling, open-air, Death Star-shaped shrine to nature, with exhibitions dedicated to the cosmos, Florida's fragile ecosystem, and the phenomena of the human body.

It was a long time coming: the massive architectural project was stalled two years ago due to funding issues, until Miami-Dade County helped provide the remaining funds. For years, the museum looked like a spherical, concrete exoskeleton. Now, that orb is a 250-seat planetarium, the screen tilted at 23.5 degrees, just enough to make you feel like you're flying. On opening day, the planetarium screened the dizzying Asteroid: Mission Extreme, a 3D special narrated by Sigourney Weaver.

MeLab at Frost Science. Courtesy of World Red Eye.

Future planetarium programming includes laser light shows every first Friday of the month, film screenings curated by Science/Art Cinema, sky-gazing with telescopes, and galactic adventures. Expect upcoming shows to be interactive. As Dr. Jorge Perez-Gallego, Curator of Astronomy and Exhibition Developer, explains, "Because of the software we have in our system, we can actually go anywhere in the galaxy in real time, and take these journeys in 3D. I can ask the audience, 'Which planet do you want to visit? Which moon?' People will feel they own the experience, and each show will be a little different."

The planetarium is indicative of the museum's future plans to bridge science, technology, and the arts, an effort to both acknowledge the community's support of the museum and to cultivate genuine curiosity. "We want to open the planetarium to the creative community," says Perez-Gallego, who is a designer as well as an astrophysicist. "I understand the way that artists can actually help push technology. A science museum is like science itself; it's something that is never done. We have been literally supported by our community, so we owe it to them to listen."

Dive Level at Frost Science. Courtesy of World Red Eye.

One of the most beautiful parts of the museum is its 500,000-gallon aquarium, divided into three stories—Vista, The Dive, and The Deep. The Vista, located on the museum's rooftop, offers sprawling views of Biscayne Bay, an aviary, and the opportunity to see creatures like stingrays, owls, and alligators (they'll be released into the wild next year). References to the precious Everglades and its current state are everywhere, including River of Grass, an interactive exhibit designed for small children.

Visitors peer into the tops of pools of fish that stretch into the interactive Dive floor below, which is replete with corals, fossils, and a VR adventure from the P.O.V. of a shark. The Deep is filled with jellyfish and, steps away, a majestic, 31-foot-wide oculus lens, providing a view into a Vista-level tank—the oculus is looming, and mahi-mahi, rays, and hammerhead and tiger sharks swim overhead.

Feathers to the Stars at Frost Science. Courtesy of World Red Eye.

Special exhibitions, like SEEING—which debuted at Ireland's Science Gallery Dublin—examine the concept of vision through robots that draw your portrait, a digital canvas painted by your eye movements, and a journey through the eyes of a synesthete. In a dark room illuminated with red and green lasers, LASERsHOW teaches visitors about the creation and purpose of lasers. A permanent exhibit, Feathers to the Stars, explores the history of flight, from feathered dinosaurs to space travel. Here, you'll find a 30-foot Yutyrannus, a feathery, cone-toothed dinosaur whose name literally means "feathered tyrant."

Across the room, past the paper airplane-making station and the big-screen visuals of satellites in space, there's a unique gem: a display case entitled Dreams of a Future. An homage to human's ongoing fascination with the cosmos, it's crammed with nostalgic ephemera like mugs, books, records, and action figures. Curator Kevin Arrow, the museum's Art and Collection Manager, crystallizes the display and the mission of the museum itself. "From the earliest days of the space program, scientists have drawn and shared inspiration with writers, artists, and creative thinkers," he says. "What was considered science fiction in the past is today our scientific reality. Imagination triggers innovation and innovation triggers imagination."

Vista Level - Atrium View of Frost Science. Courtesy of World Red Eye.

MeLab at Frost Science. Courtesy of World Red Eye.

Frost Science from Science Plaza. Courtesy of World Red Eye.

Sandy Shores at Frost Science, with a sea turtle nesting area. Courtesy of World Red Eye.

Florida Reef at Frost Science. Courtesy of World Red Eye.

Atrium at Frost Science. Courtesy of World Red Eye.

The Frost Museum of Science is open every day of the year. For ticket and schedule info, click here. Summer 2017 Laser Light Shows at the Planetarium begin Friday, June 2 at 7PM.

Related:

Scientists Discovered a Dinosaur Tail Covered In Feathers | Last Week in Art

Watch a Planetarium Dome Become a Real-Time Audiovisual Canvas

Is This the Digitized Aquarium of the Future?

from creators http://ift.tt/2qAzumI via IFTTT