The Ancient Mayans collected fossils

[jdp]

Open access paper.

 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X17305485

 

Highlights

 

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This study defines the taxonomy, possible geological source, and anthropogenic features of the fossil fishes from Palenque.

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These fossils include ray tail spines, shark teeth, and complete teleosts and pycnodontiforms specimens.

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Paint stains, plaster spots, and worn out cutting edges suggests their possible prehispanic use of this fossils.

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Excavated surfaces around fossils on the slabs demonstrate intention to discover and these fossils by Maya people.

 

Thought you guys might find this interesting.

[Auspex]

This is fascinating; thank you for posting it!

Those pictured multi fish slabs are spectacular

[Oxytropidoceras]

Another open-access paper is:

 

Alvarado-Ortega, J., Cuevas-García, M., del Pilar Melgarejo-Damián,

M., Cantalice, K.M., Alaniz-Galvan, A., Solano-Templos, G. and

Than-Marchese, B.A., 2015. Paleocene fishes from Palenque,

Chiapas, southeastern Mexico. Palaeontologia Electronica, 18(2), pp. 1-22.

http://palaeo-electronica.org/content/2015/1282-paleocene-fishes-from-palenque

 

An article is:

 

Archaeological Finds Suggest That Ancient Maya Religion Was

Inspired By Fossils, David Bressan, Forbes Magazine

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidbressan/2018/03/09/archaeological-finds-suggest-that-ancient-maya-religion-was-inspired-by-fossils/

 

The original paper is:

 

Alvarado-Ortega, J., Cuevas-García, M. and Cantalice, K., 2018.

The fossil fishes of the archaeological site of Palenque, Chiapas,

 southeastern Mexico. Journal of Archaeological Science:

Reports, 17, pp. 462-476.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X17305485

 

Yours,

 

Paul H.