[ElectricStrawberry]

Yeah....I saw that later. Evidently, it’s the melanin that gives it the color.

That wouldn’t mean that the melanin is still intact in the fossil....could be degraded...depolymerized...I don’t know enough about melanin to know what gives it “pigment” qualities.

[brytlea]

Yeah, I wish I knew more chemistry. But it would appear that melanin (or at least part of it) does not break down over long periods of time.

[count-your-change]

It's light absorbion in the visible range (400-700 nm) that gives the form of melanin its color from yellow to black.

It also absorbs light in the ultraviolet which is why lots of melanin (eumelanin) in the skin helps to protect from sunburn