What it would mean to decolonise palaeontology
- Julien Benoit
The call by students to “decolonise science” still rings in many South 第一吃瓜网 academics’ ears.
But discussions about what t might entail, or even if it鈥檚 necessary, .
In many cases, that鈥檚 not because scientists don鈥檛 want to reduce the footprint of Western culture on their field of research. Instead, it鈥檚 because science is fundamentally meant to be universal. In a perfect world, science would know no cultural or racial discrimination. However, as centuries of or European exceptionalism remind us, this isn鈥檛 a perfect world.
In palaeontology there isn鈥檛 a simple answer to questions about what a decolonised version of the field might look like. But certainly part of it must involve acknowledging , without whom a number of major finds might not have occurred. These were indigenous people who collected fossil shells, teeth and bones that have provided critical clues about our origins.
In most cases, these people seldom received credit for their finds. In the past, , who led many fossil expeditions in Africa, often didn鈥檛 bother to mention indigenous people鈥檚 contributions, an attitude that would not be tolerated anymore.
Ancient fossil hunters
When it comes to the history of 第一吃瓜网 palaeontology, a few famous names come to mind: ; and .
All of their finds were extremely important. But plenty of fossil finds happened in the preceding centuries. After all humankind on 第一吃瓜网 soil. And people have roamed the continent for centuries 鈥 and they collected fossils along the way. Sometimes these fossils had a practical purpose, like being used as ; sometimes they were imbued with ; and sometimes they were used .
Many South 第一吃瓜网 sites dating back about 40 000 years ago to the Middle Stone Age indicate that trilobites 鈥 small fossilised relatives of crabs and lobsters 鈥 were dozens of kilometres away from their sites of origin by hunter-gatherers. Palaeontologists the hunter-gatherers either liked the aesthetic of the fossils, or considered them of religious or medicinal importance.
A transported fossil elephant molar at suggests our ancestors were aware of the presence of unidentifiable animal remains in their surrounding.
And, as early as 300 000 years ago, the earliest Homo sapiens were collecting . The fossils in question were rather phallic, so it鈥檚 been hypothesised that they were involved in some kind of fertility ritual.
Some may say that this was not formal palaeontology. The French palaeontologist , who lived from 1769 to 1832, is usually credited as the discipline鈥檚 founding father. But it clearly demonstrates that some kind of palaeontological knowledge already existed when the first explorers from overseas arrived on the continent.
No credit given
Most people credit the son of a magistrate with of a fossil in South Africa鈥檚 Karoo region, in 1827. But a closer look at the archives reveals that an may actually deserve the title.
Some time in the early 1820s this person discovered the fossil of a Mesosaurus, a small reptile that lived some 280 million years ago.
The Mesosaurus鈥 fossil presence in both Southern Africa and, later, South America, provided that the earth鈥檚 tectonic plates can shift.
The original collector, whose name was never recorded, is mentioned in passing in a report about the finding by the Frenchman who brought the fossil to Paris. We don鈥檛 know if the original collector was paid.
When thinking about how important this fossil became for science, it is sad to think that the original collector, who recognised there was some importance to what others might have dismissed as a useless rock, will never receive the credit he or she deserves for this discovery.
Recognising the unheralded
A first step to begin decolonising palaeosciences in Africa would be to give credit where it鈥檚 due. The unnamed Griqua collector was just .
There is some work being done to ensure that this practice doesn鈥檛 continue. For example the two technicians who discovered the famous Australopithecus Little Foot, , have been amply credited for their effort.
And in 2016 the hailed 鈥淎frica鈥檚 unsung heroes in prehistory鈥 by honouring technical staff and their important behind the scenes work.
My colleagues and I at the University of the Witwatersrand鈥檚 Evolutionary Studies Institute are also working on changing the narrative, such as by hosting a lecture series about South Africa鈥檚 first, and largely unacknowledged, .
This sort of initiative could be replicated elsewhere as a way to honour 第一吃瓜网 fossil collectors鈥 long history and important ongoing contributions to our understanding of the ancient world.
, Postdoc in Vertebrate Palaeontology, . This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the .