Fossil doubts

1986/10/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Paleontologia
• Arkeologia

In a previous issue of Elhuyar magazine we talked about doubts about the fossil called Archeopteryx. It was mentioned that in early 1985 astrophysicists Sir Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe pointed out that the fossil of this avian reptile discovered in 1861 was only a very good scam of its discoverer. According to them, Dr. Horberlein (fossil discoverer) placed him in the cement with a small biped dinosaur, then leaving lumen remains in the cement. Thus he made the fossil of the bird reptile.

This statement provoked great discontent among paleontologists. To solve all the doubts that could arise about this fossil, they were linked to the study of the fossil existing in London. The team led by Alan Charig has carried out a thorough review using microscope and ultraviolet photographs. The final result has been clear: there are no remnants of scam in the Archeopterix.

This fossil has historically played a very important role in the theory of evolution. Thanks to him Huxley, defender of Darwin, was able to say that birds came from reptiles.