Re: Sacred Fossils

["Mickey P. Rowe" <mrowe@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Norm McLeod writes:

> This week's Time magazine (in addition to a nice article on Pterosaurs)
> reports on the theft of some Stegosaur tracks from a remote area in
> Australian.

A couple of articles about the site have gone through the dinosaur
mailing list.  If you're interested:

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Date: Tue, 15 Oct 1996 12:49:37 -0500 (EST)
From: cnedin@geology.adelaide.edu.au (Chris Nedin)
To: dinosaur@usc.edu
Subject: Australian dinosaur fossil theft

The news this morning carried the story of the illegal removal of a pair of
_Stegosaurus_ footprints from an Aboriginal sacred site near Broome in
northern Western Australia (approx. 1700 km NNE of Perth).

This pair is unique since they are to only evidence for the presence of
_Stegosaurus_ in Australia.

Their removal has caused distress to the local Aboriginal community and the
custodian of the sacred site now fears spiritual retribution against him
and/or his family.

The thieves have shown a callous disregard for the beliefs and customs of
the local people.  Possession of these footprints in Australia is a Federal
offence.  Export of these footprints is a Federal offence.

Australian Federal Police have shown a willingness to persue (even
overseas) and prosecute those it considered to be involed in the illegal
removal and export of fossils from Australia.

If anyone has any infomation about _Stegosaur_ footprints becoming
available for sale please contact Dr. Ken McNamara of the Western
Australian Museum (mcnamk@muswa.dialix.oz.au).

Chris

cnedin@geology.adelaide.edu.au                  nedin@ediacara.org
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Many say it was a mistake to come down from the trees, some say
the move out of the oceans was a bad idea. Me, I say the stiffening
of the notochord in the Cambrian was where it all went wrong,
it was all downhill from there.

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Date: Fri, 25 Oct 1996 11:50:28 -0500 (EST)
From: steve.cole@genie.com
To: dinosaur@usc.edu
Subject: AUSTRALIAN TRACKS STOLEN

Aborigines upset by theft of rare dinosaur fossil
 MELBOURNE, Oct 15 (Reuter) - Fossil-hunters have stolen a unique set of
dinosaur footprints from a piece of sacred rock in outback Australia, outraging
local aborigines.
 The thieves apparently used power tools to remove the four footprints,
thought to be the only known set of its kind and felt by aborigines to belong
to a mythical creature from their "Dream Time,'' aborigines and scientists
said on Tuesday.
 "It's a very sacred thing to me,'' said Joseph Roe, who for the past eight
years has been aboriginal custodian of the footprints near Broome on the
country's remote northwest coast.
 Roe said he believed he, his family and the people who took the footprints
could fall ill because of the theft.
 "According to aboriginal tradition, whoever has taken them has placed
themselves in great danger,'' he told state radio.
 "They might get sick or I might get sick,'' he later told Reuters, warning
that the offence was punishable by death under aboriginal law.
 "If he (a thief) comes to face me I will put a spear through him and
finish him,'' Roe said by telephone from Broome, a tourist town over 3,000 km
(1,800 miles) northwest of Sydney.
 "The theft is a great loss -- both scientifically and culturally,'' he
added.
 The fossils are the world's only known footprints of a stegasaurus, a
herbivore that stood around three metres (10 ft) tall and carried a double row
of spikes along its back, said palaeontologist Ken McNamara, of the Western
Australian Museum.
 Anthropologist Patrick Sullivan, among a party of aborigines who discovered
the theft last Wednesday, said the footprints were part of a "song line'' of
scared sites used in aboriginal ceremonies.
 He said the aborigines with him were outraged, shocked and horrified to
find the footprints missing.
 "People responsible for looking after these areas feel that if they
(sacred sites) were disturbed that sickness and other kinds of misfortune are
going to come upon their communities and themselves, and of a very severe
kind,'' he said from Broome.
 Roe appealed for the thieves to return the footprints, which are registered
officially as a sacred site in Western Australia.
 Western Australia state premier Richard Court called the theft callous and
"sick'' and pledged tougher penalties and tighter security for fossil sites.
He also offered police all government resources to invevestigate the theft.