Re: Future of palaeontology

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Bill Shear's statement that the real home of paleontology is with biology is a 
logical position to take, but it is not a full understanding of the problem. The
fossil record is enclosed in rocks, and rarely provides anything that is 
unaltered for the paleontologist to work with. Most fossils have been altered to
various degrees since the time of entombment and are mineralogical pieces or 
mineralogical replicas of some of the original organism. They are fundamentally 
unlike living organisms and are not like herbarium specimens, vertebrate skins, 
or pickled invertebrates.

This has two consequences that keep paleontology well within the realm of the 
geological sciences. First, the material that is being studied is mineralogical 
in nature - not organic molecular tissue. To work with this material requires 
training in mineralogical subjects, which is more chemical than biological in 
affinity. Second, the proper determination of condition of preservation requires
a geological frame of reference. Many cases of uncritical acceptance of 
specimens as faithful representations of the original organism have led to 
hypotheses that have foundered and been overturned when realistic understanding 
of the geological history of preservation became available.

Without doubt, biology provides a set of goals towards which paleontology 
strives to achieve, but geology is the operating framework in which this work 
takes place.

Finally, the economic justification for paleontology has traditionally been the 
ability to use fossils to determine geologic time; i.e. biostratigraphy. The 
current decline in support for this field of inquiry is what is leading to the 
decline of support for the field and soul-searching among paleontologists.

Rejoinder, Mr. Shear?

__________________________________________________________________________
Thomas E. Yancey                               ______                           
Department of Geology and Geophysics          /  ___ \           _______ 
Texas A&M University                         |  / , \ |O    O   |   |   |
College Station, TX 77843-3115               |  | \_/ | \__/     _  |  _ 
Voice: 409 845 0643    Fax: 409 845 6162    /---\_____/-(..)    |-| | |||
email: tyancey@tamu.edu             ......./______________/................