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Altering the Past: China's Faked Fossils Problem
Science ^ | 12/24/2010 | Richard Stone

Posted on 12/29/2010 10:15:23 AM PST by SeekAndFind

Specialists and collectors around the world have long decried the flood of sham fossils pouring out of China. But Science has learned that many composites and fakes are now finding their way into Chinese museums, especially local museums. One paleontologist estimates that more than 80% of marine reptile specimens now on display in Chinese museums have been "altered or artificially combined to varying degrees." One consequence of the fakery is an erosion of trust in museums, which are supposed to enlighten—not con—the public. Scholars, too, pay a price: They waste time sifting authentic specimens from counterfeit chaff. And a genuine blockbuster fossil can be destroyed by attempts to enhance its appeal.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL TEXT:

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/330/6012/1740.full


TOPICS: History; Science; Society
KEYWORDS: china; evolution; fakefossils; fossils
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1 posted on 12/29/2010 10:15:31 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Sad. I was fortunate as a child, because I could dig my own trilobites, crinoids, and other fossils out of the shale pile in front of one of my grandfather’s old coal mines. I had hard evidence in front of me that the earth is exceedingly old, and there are life forms that existed then that are gone now.


2 posted on 12/29/2010 10:19:53 AM PST by backwoods-engineer (I've giving up Facebook because of OPSEC issues.)
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To: backwoods-engineer

Large shale piles dotted Appanoose County in southern Iowa, the result of extensive underground coal mining from 1880 through 1960. The county secondary road department dug into this shale and used it in place of gravel. The red mountains are no completely gone.


3 posted on 12/29/2010 10:24:26 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks (Go Hawks !)
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

no= now...


4 posted on 12/29/2010 10:24:51 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks (Go Hawks !)
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To: SeekAndFind

KEICHOUSAUR fossils from China have been faked for decades. So long in fact, that the 20+ year flood of fakes has stigmatized the appreciation and desire of genuine specimens amongst experienced collectors.


5 posted on 12/29/2010 10:39:25 AM PST by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet - Visualize)
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To: JoeProBono
This fossil has been a hoax. It took 40 years to find out:



6 posted on 12/29/2010 10:43:34 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: backwoods-engineer

As a fellow Christian I personally do not believe that the Earth is even one day older than the Bible describes.

Furthermore there are problems with every natural clock ~ even radio isotope dating. But most natural clocks make it appear absolutely impossible for the Earth to be greater than 10,000 years.

101 Evidences for a Young Age of the Earth...And the Universe
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2264681/posts


7 posted on 12/29/2010 10:44:37 AM PST by BrandtMichaels
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To: SeekAndFind

FAKE KEICHOUSAUR FOSSIL


8 posted on 12/29/2010 10:49:31 AM PST by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet - Visualize)
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To: SeekAndFind

Everything about China seems to be a deception, most of all their Communist political system.


9 posted on 12/29/2010 11:03:27 AM PST by TexasRepublic (Socialism is the gospel of envy and the religion of thieves)
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To: TexasRepublic

Parallels w/ most everything about evolution being deception or outright fraud.


10 posted on 12/29/2010 11:12:03 AM PST by BrandtMichaels
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To: TexasRepublic

LOL, we have to admit that China does a bang-up job turning out crap, fast and lots of it. Now what other country can take that title.


11 posted on 12/29/2010 2:08:13 PM PST by SgtHooper
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To: SeekAndFind
Subscribe/Join AAAS or Buy Access to This Article to View Full Text. The content you requested requires a AAAS member subscription to this site or Science Pay per Article purchase. If you already have a user name and password, please sign in below.

12 posted on 12/29/2010 4:04:08 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: SeekAndFind
"For ways that are dark and for tricks that are vain, the heathen Chinee is peculuar." Bret Harte.
13 posted on 12/29/2010 4:35:17 PM PST by JoeFromSidney
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To: SeekAndFind

You do realize that if a scientist engages in deception, REAL science has nevertheless transpired. At least, when it comes to evolutionary theory, no amount of fraud changes the template that only naturalism could possibly be responsible for the panoply of life on earth. The posse closes ranks, all the time. Bob


14 posted on 12/29/2010 5:06:44 PM PST by alstewartfan ("The newly painted fences chip; Life falls into routine." from Al Stewart's "In the Dark")
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To: alstewartfan

RE: You do realize that if a scientist engages in deception, REAL science has nevertheless transpired


Of course. But it does make one wonder why the NEED for such deception when according to the same scientists, the evidence for their pet theory is overwhelming. I would expect them to let the fossil evidence speak for itself.


15 posted on 12/29/2010 5:34:42 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SunkenCiv

Sorry, can’t help you with registering for the detailed text.

But maybe this site will give you more information if you’re interested:

http://www.paleodirect.com/fakechinesefossils1.htm


16 posted on 12/29/2010 5:48:14 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Exactly my point. After EVERY fraud perpetrated by the evos is uncovered, they insist that the farce is a mere blip in the radar of REAL scienctific inquiry. Remember Ida and Ardi? LOLOLOL! Bob


17 posted on 12/30/2010 10:48:18 AM PST by alstewartfan ("The newly painted fences chip; Life falls into routine." from Al Stewart's "In the Dark")
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To: alstewartfan; SeekAndFind

It shouldn’t really be necessary to point out that these fakes are prepared by peasants and scam artists to fool scientists and collectors, not by scientists to fool the general public.

But apparently it is.


18 posted on 12/30/2010 12:28:12 PM PST by Ha Ha Thats Very Logical
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To: Ha Ha Thats Very Logical

You would think that scientists would exhaust all tests to liminate the possiiblity of forgery BEFORE they went to the press! Mybe next time..... Bob


19 posted on 12/30/2010 1:44:33 PM PST by alstewartfan ("The newly painted fences chip; Life falls into routine." from Al Stewart's "In the Dark")
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To: SeekAndFind

“But it does make one wonder why the NEED for such deception when according to the same scientists, the evidence for their pet theory is overwhelming. I would expect them to let the fossil evidence speak for itself.”

—Poor Chinese farmers fake fossils because people pay money for fossils. I’m not sure what you think that has to do with the evidence for evolution. The fake fossil rat, for instance, in the link you gave above has nothing to do with evolution - it’s just someone trying to sell a cool looking fossil to a sucker on ebay.

Even the one example of a Chinese fake that people link to evolution, the archaeoraptor (actually, a couple of real fossils carved up to appear to be one fossil), doesn’t appear to have been made with evolution in mind - the forger just knew that whole fossils get a lot more money than partial fossils and so he just combined together a couple fossils that he thought belonged to the same species. (BTW, before Nat Geo published the story, they tried to get the fossil published in both Science and Nature and both refused because it looked suspicious to them. The importance of the fossil to science is also greatly exaggerated among Creationists. Even if it were real, it would just be one in a very long line of dino-birds. In fact, it was created as a composite of a couple of dino-birds.)

It’s no different than the way many people make money by selling archaeological finds - many of them fake. Here’s a link almost identical to the one you posted, except warning about archaeological finds:
http://www.archaeologyexpert.co.uk/Fakes.html

I doubt stories about fake Roman coins has anything to do with a “NEED” for deception about the existence of Rome.


20 posted on 12/30/2010 3:14:40 PM PST by goodusername
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