Fossils: Pictures of the Past

A tale of discoveries and hoaxes

“Figured Stones”

For centuries, people had noticed images of plants and animal remains in stones and wondered at them.

In China, people sometimes found “dragon bones” (fossils bones of ancient animals) which were used to make medicine.

“Tongue stones” (fossil shark’s teeth) were known in Italy as curiosities.

“Fossil”

The term “fossil” in 16th and 17th century Europe referred to just about anything dug from the earth: crystals, interesting mineral concretions, metal ores, and the “figured stones” that today are called fossils.

Early European theories

The rise of the Enlightenment brought new ideas about “figured stones”:

Did they grow from seeds or eggs trapped in rocks?

Were they remains of victims of the Biblical flood?

Were they organic at all?

Early theorists

Robert Hooke, John Ray, and Leonardo DaVinci all wrote about fossils, believing fossils to be the remains of once-living things.

Others, such as Athanasius Kircher (17th century) attributed fossils such as “tongue stones” to a “lapidifying virtue through the whole body of the geocosm.”

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)

In addition to his work as an artist, da Vinci was also a “philosopher” (scientist), inventor, and writer.

Several of da Vinci’s observations on geology and fossils were remarkably modern.

Horizontal Strata

da Vinci observed horizontal rock strata and correlated layers on opposite sides of river valleys in and around the Alps.

He correctly surmised that the layers had been laid down at the same time and that the rivers had “sawn” through them.

River deposition

da Vinci observed and recorded that rivers deposit large, angular rocks near their sources high in the mountains.

Rocks that are transported by the rivers are worn down and rounded. Further downstream, deposited rocks grow smaller and smaller as the heaver rocks drop out of slower currents, until at the mouth of a river, there are only particles of silt, sand, or clay.

Fossils and strata

da Vinci observed clam fossils on mountaintops in the Alps, and was perhaps the first to propose that the rocks had once been sea floor.

He also proposed that where layers bearing different fossils had been laid down at different times.

Fossils as organic remains

da Vinci observed that in living clams, the shells remain closed by a strong muscle, while in dead clams, the muscle relaxes and quickly decays, allowing the shells to fall open and disarticulate.

From this observation, he proposed that clam fossils with closed shells were the remains of clams that had been trapped alive in silt.

Steno (Niels Stensen, 1638-1686)

Danish anatomist, studied medicine in the Netherlands and France.

Came to Florence at the request of the Duke of Tuscany to run a hospital and continue his research.

Steno and the Shark1666: Fishermen in Livorno, Italy, caught a giant shark. The local duke had it shipped to Steno for study.

Steno noticed similarities between the shark’s teeth and “tongue stones” that were well known at the time.

Steno’s leap

Like some others of his time, Steno thought that shark’s teeth could be organic remains.

However, Steno took it one step further, saying that the fossils that looked like shark’s teeth really were shark’s teeth, and were the remains of once-living sharks.

Corpuscle Theory of Matter

Steno used the Corpuscle Theory of Matter to explain the transformation of shark’s teeth into tongue stones.

Naturalists of the day hypothesized that matter was made of “corpuscles” (essentially molecules). Steno suggested that the corpuscles of the teeth had been gradually replaced by corpuscles of stone as the teeth sat in the rocks.

But how did they get there?

The obvious question, then, was how did shark’s teeth end up in rocks on dry land?

Steno’s Principle of Original Horizontality: Rocks once existed in a fluid state. Rock strata are formed when particles in a flud such as water fell to the bottom of the body of water, leaving horizontal layers. Later disturbances may alter the horizontality.

Law of Superposition

Steno reasoned that if rocks were deposited in layers, animal and plant remains could be trapped in those layers. Later disturbances could push rock layers above the water’s surface.

The oldest fossils should be found in the lowest layers. Younger fossils would be found in younger layers.

Johann Beringer (d. 1740)

Dr. Johann Bartholomew Adam Beringer, professor of Medicine in Würtzburg, lectured widely on fossils.

Some, he stated, could be the remains of once-living organisms. Most, he thought, were the handiwork of God.

Beringer’s arrogance may have been the impetus for one of the best-known fossil hoaxes in history.

The Figured Stones of Würtzburg

In 1726, Beringer published Lithographia Wirceburgensis, a catalog of fossils he and his assistants had unearthed near his home.

“God, the founder of Nature, would fill our minds with His praises and perfections radiating from these wondrous effects, so that, when forgetful men grow silent, these mute stones might speak with the eloquence of their figures.”

The Figured Stones of Würtzburg

Figured stones?

Some critics who examined the stones were quick to point out that they bore the marks of a chisel.

Beringer’s response: “...the figures..are so exactly fitted to the dimensions of the stones, that one would swear that they are the work of a very meticulous sculptor... [and] seem to bear unmistakable indications of the sculptor’s knife... One would swear that he discerned in many of them the strokes of a knife gone awry, and superfluous gouges in several directions.” Beringer believed the “sculptor” was God, and the stones showed that God was practicing His skills.

More stonesSome “figured stones” even bore Hebrew letters, spelling out the name of God.

Beringer took these as possible signs that the stones were the work of the Creator, but also suggested they could be sports of nature formed by the “plastic power of the earth,” or that some that resembled living things might grow from trapped seeds or eggs.

But whose hand?Two of Beringer’s detractors, Ignatz Roderick and Georg von Eckart, admitted to carving and planting the stones themselves.

Beringer at first accused the men of professional jealousy, but a public trial revealed that the men had committed the hoax.

Beringer offered to buy back copies of his book that had been sold. However, after his death, his publisher brought out a second edition for the curious and those with a sense of humor.

Discussion:

Consider the century in which Beringer lived, and views of fossils at the time. Why was he so quick to believe the stones were real, and willing to support a supernatural explanation for the stones?

In Beringer’s work, he proposed a classification scheme, asked questions, posed multiple hypotheses about the origin of the stones, and invited discussion. In this, how did the quality of his work compare to that of Steno and da Vinci?