Re: paleonet fantastic flint forms

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Dear Ms. Gjerløff,

This is an interesting topic, and a few possibilities come to mind:

1. Dr. Richard G. Bromley, professor emeritus at the Dept. of Geology,
University of Copenhagen, has worked with chalk flints for most of his
career and may have some information on flint pseudofossils.

2. People have an innate ability to recognize faces, therefore we see faces
everywhere, even in a few lines. ;-) A few people lack this ability in
varying degrees, even to the distressing degree of not recognizing family
members on the street. This is prosopagnosia or 'face-blindness' and you may
be able to find more information about it on the Web.

3. I vaguely remember an article on common optical illusions as they affect
geologic mapping. (Does anyone remember where it is?) For example, there is
the tendency to link dots into lines when dealing with remote imagery, which
can sometimes lead to dramatic mistakes, e.g., the mapping of canals on
Mars.

4. Every academic paleontologist has been presented pseudofossils by people
who are absolutely certain that they have found (or their grandfather found)
a fossilized toe, wasp's nest, egg, footprint, etc. It is not the
misconception, but the certainty, that paleontologists find puzzling;
perhaps it is due to the emotional weight of having a possibly valuable
specimen or a valued family memento. Of course, there are many others who
are broad-minded about their finds.

5. A few centuries ago, there were no professional paleontologists, and the
earliest works on paleontology are full of such wonders. See Martin
Rudwick's wonderful book on the early history of paleontology, 'The Meaning
of Fossils' (2nd edition).

When you publish your work (which I presume may be in a historical journal),
please post the citation on PaleoNet so interested paleontologists may find
it readily.

Andrew K. Rindsberg
Geological Survey of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA