"Renowned Fossil Revealed as Painted Rock in Paleontological Analysis"
TL;DR
A renowned 280-million-year-old fossil, Tridentinosaurus antiquus, discovered in the Italian Alps in 1931 and thought to show preserved soft tissues, has been revealed to be partly a forgery, with its body outline being painted. New research led by Dr. Valentina Rossi of University College Cork, Ireland, shows that the fossil's celebrated soft tissues are mostly black paint on a carved lizard-shaped rock surface, cautioning against its use in future studies. However, genuine bones and tiny bony scales have been identified, demonstrating how modern analytical paleontology can resolve long-standing enigmas.
Topics:sciencepaleontology#forgery#fossil#paleontology#soft-tissue-preservation#tridentinosaurus-antiquus
- Paleontological analysis shows renowned fossil thought to show soft tissue preservation is in fact just paint Phys.org
- Ancient Fossil That Baffled Scientists For Decades Finally Reveals Its True Identity ScienceAlert
- It's a fake: Mysterious 280 million-year-old fossil is mostly just black paint Ars Technica
- This Famous 'Fossil' Is Just a Painted Rock Gizmodo
- Prized Fossil Contains Forged Material, Study Says The Wall Street Journal
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