Ethics of studying fossils from conflict zones and private collections

[Oxytropidoceras]

Rayfield, E.J., J.M. Theodor, and P.D. Polly. 2020. 

Fossils from conflict zones and reproducibility of 

fossil-based scientific data. Society of Vertebrate 

Paleontology, letter, 21/04/2020. 

https://web.archive.org/web/20200722214958/https://vertpaleo.org/GlobalPDFS/SVP-Letter-to-Editors-FINAL.aspx

 

Society of Vertebrate Paleontology position 

statement about Burmese Amber

https://web.archive.org/web/20201118155253/http://vertpaleo.org/Society-News/SVP-Paleo-News/Society-News,-Press-Releases/On-Burmese-Amber-and-Fossil-Repositories-SVP-Memb.aspx

 

Comment on Society of Vertebrate Paleontology position statement

 

Haug, C., Reumer, J.W.F., Haug, J.T. et al. Comment on 

the letter of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 

(SVP) dated April 21, 2020 regarding “Fossils from 

conflict zones and reproducibility of fossil-based 

scientific data”: the importance of private collections. 

PalZ 94, 413–429 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-020-00522-x

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12542-020-00522-x

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12542-020-00524-9

 

Saintta, E.T., 2020, The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology's 

policy is inconsistent with Scientific epistemology. PaleorXiv Papers, 

https://paleorxiv.org/xmkhb/

https://paleorxiv.org/discover

 

Yours,

 

Paul H.

[Boesse]

I read the Haug et al. paper, and to be honest it read like a bunch of paleoentomologists really like skirting rules a lot of other paleontologists follow; they really split hairs trying to define what a conflict zone was so that Myanmar amber came out just on the right side of that line; and that there's no difference between a museum collection and some rando's garage, so that scientific publishing need not be restricted by EITHER genocide OR fossils being outside the public trust. Obviously splitting hairs about a country like Myanmar last year - given what's transpired in the past week - was hilariously shortsighted. And, examples of museums messing things up means that we need to improve museums - not neuter them with a change in rules. Both museum collections and amateur collections should exist, and sadly there are a lot of paleontologists hostile to amateur paleontologists - and, sadly, apparently some paleontologists that are hostile to museums (Haug et al.).

 

Anyway, thanks to the military coup in Myanmar, the Haug et al. paper had an extremely short shelf life.

[jdp]

So this is a subject that is particularly personal for me, as I have immediate family who were refugees from genocide. There are a lot of issues where there is enough of a grey area that there is room to have a well-meaning debate on the ethics. Financially supporting a military or paramilitary organization which is literally involved in rounding up members of ethnic minorities, raping them, and murdering them en masse is not one of them. There are so many fossils of all sorts all around the world; you just do not need to be putting money into industries controlled by the Tatmadaw. You just don't. I know a few of the personalities involved in this mess, and I frankly have little respect for the people who have justified participation in this. If literal concentration camps, literal mass graves, and literal forced child labor isn't a bridge too far, then what is?