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Eocene Messel fossil site possibly closed (1 Viewer)

Fred Ruhe

Fred Ruhe

Well-known member
Netherlands
Famous Eocene Messel fossil site in Germany possibly to be closed to paleontologists in a proposed moratorium on excavations (in German)

http://www.echo-online.de/lokales/d...-koennten-diese-saison-ausfallen_17782172.htm

Maybe one of our German speaking friends can translate this article into English.

Messel is not only very important for fossil Mammals, but also for fossil birds: With about 70 currently known species in 42 named genus-level and at least 39 family-level taxa and an additional 3 species have been described since.

For more information on the Messel Birds see: Gerald Mayr, 2016: The Early Eocene Birds of Messel Fossil Site: a 48-Million-Year-Old Bird Community Adds a Temporal Perspective to the Evolution of Tropical Avifaunas: Biological Reviews on line first 8 april 2016

See also http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=322333&highlight=Messel+bird+community

There is no free pdf, but you can ask me for a copy.

Fred
 
Messel is an UNESCO heritage site. Seems that the excavations and the tourism are against the landmark status.
 
I don't get it. The main reason to make it a UNESCO heritage site instead of a waste dump was its paleontology. Stop the tourism, ok., but stop the paleontology, as if there is an alternative?

Fred
 
For those interested I made a list of birds described from Grube Messel.

Hope you like it,

Fred
 

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A number of news stories in German, already posted on birdforum, about a moratorium on excavations at the Messel Pit fossil site, recently designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The proposed moratorium for this year is meant to assess the impact of fossil collecting, which may be more restricted in the future. Some paleontologists have been critical.

http://www.echo-online.de/lokales/d...-koennten-diese-saison-ausfallen_17782172.htm

http://hessenschau.de/panorama/grab...oht-auszufallen,grabungspause-messel-100.html

Video (in German)

http://www.ardmediathek.de/tv/hesse...hen/Video?bcastId=3301950&documentId=41960730

Fred
 
Messel Digs to Resume (in German)

The Messel Pit Eocene fossil site will be allowed to resume scientific digs next year after a meeting of scientists and monument protection authorities, but details have not been set.


http://www.echo-online.de/lokales/d...der-gegraben-in-der-grube-messel_18357647.htm

The Messel site was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site and local authorities imposed a moratorium on digs earlier this year, resulting in a drop in tourism to the area and concerns for scientific access.

http://www.fr.de/rhein-main/grube-m...essel-als-weltkulturerbe-gefaehrdet-a-1394267

Fred
 
Messel Pit and its complicated history (it almost became a garage dump!); issues with preserving the pit (now a UNESCO World Heritage Site) include preventing exposed layers of oil shale from drying out and destroying the fossils. A moratorium on fossil digs was imposed last year but a test dig is now underway, in part to address the problem of damage from drying. (in German)

http://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de...us-grauer.1001.de.html?dram:article_id=418595

Fred
 
Seems like the problem was two-fold: firstly, they're working on improving their digging methods (there have been a lot of new technlogies and approaches in archaeology lately, and I expect it's no different for palaeontology), and secondly, specific UNESCO statutes that they feared violating. I'm guessing the latter might be a bit inflexible regarding active excavation sites.
 
Sangahyando said:
Seems like the problem was two-fold: firstly, they're working on improving their digging methods (there have been a lot of new technlogies and approaches in archaeology lately, and I expect it's no different for palaeontology), and secondly, specific UNESCO statutes that they feared violating. I'm guessing the latter might be a bit inflexible regarding active excavation sites.
Click to expand...

Don't forget, Messel became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the first place because of the value to paleontology.

Fred
 
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