Literature

Fake fossils have been commented upon by paleontologists for centuries. Below is a brief bibliography of scientific papers addressing various fake fossils.

An authentic Devonian Paralejurus trilobite from Morocco. Note the repaired portion of the pygidium to the left of the discovery crack. Fossils often have taphonomic, or preservational, damage, and are likewise often damaged in the collection and preparation process.

Papers addressing fake fossils in the scientific literature

1. Rossi, Valentina, Massimo Bernardi, Mariagabriella Fornasiero, Fabrizio Nestola, Richard Unitt, Stefano Castelli, and Evelyn Kustatscher. “Forged soft tissues revealed in the oldest fossil reptile from the early Permian of the Alps.” Palaeontology 67, no. 1 (2024): e12690.
2. Scheyer, Torsten M., Gustavo R. Oliveira, Pedro SR Romano, Dylan Bastiaans, Lisa Falco, Gabriel S. Ferreira, and Márton Rabi. “A forged ‘chimera’including the second specimen of the protostegid sea turtle Santanachelys gaffneyi and shell parts of the pleurodire Araripemys from the Lower Cretaceous Santana Group of Brazil.” Swiss Journal of Palaeontology 142, no. 1 (2023): 6.
3. Corbacho, Joan, Scott Morrison, Keith Hammond, and Eduvigis Moreno. “On a new material in the forgery of Trilobites from Morocco and their detection.” Batalleria 28 (2021): 28-33.
4. Wang, Xiaoming. “Mortgaging the future of Chinese paleontology.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110, no. 9 (2013): 3201-3201.
5. Corbacho, Joan, Consuelo Sendino, and M. Tahiri. “Palaeontological fakes.” Batalleria 16 (2011): 37-45.
6. Lerosey-Aubril, Rudy. “A fake Inca trilobite from Chile.” The Trilobite Papers 16 (2010): 17-19
7. Granier, Bruno, Monique Feist, Edward Hennessey, Ioan I. Bucur, and Baba Senowbari-Daryan. “The IMAM case. Additional investigation of a micropaleontological fraud.” Carnets de Géologie/Notebooks on Geology A04 (2009): 1-14.
8. Craddock, Paul. Scientific investigation of copies, fakes and forgeries. Routledge, 2009.
9. Mateus, Octavio, Marvin Overbeeke, and F. Rita. “Dinosaur frauds, hoaxes and “Frankensteins”: how to distinguish fake and genuine vertebrate fossils.” Journal of Paleontological Techniques 2 (2008): 1-5.
10. Zhou, Zhonghe, Julia A. Clarke, and Fucheng Zhang. “Archaeoraptor’s better half.” Nature 420, no. 6913 (2002): 285-285.
11. Rowe, Timothy, Richard A. Ketcham, Cambria Denison, Matthew Colbert, Xing Xu, and Philip J. Currie. “The Archaeoraptor forgery.” Nature 410, no. 6828 (2001): 539-540.
12. Henry, J-L. “The trilobites of the ‘affaire Deprat’.” Alcheringa 18, no. 4 (1994): 359-362.
13. Talent, John A. “The case of the peripatetic fossils.” Nature 338, no. 6217 (1989): 613-615.
14. Charig, Alan J., Frank Greenaway, Angela C. Milner, Cyril A. Walker, and Peter J. Whybrow. “Archaeopteryx is not a forgery.” Science 232, no. 4750 (1986): 622-626.
15. Hoyle, Fred, and Chandra Wickramasinghe. Archaeopteryx, the primordial bird: a case of fossil forgery. Christopher Davies, 1986.
16. Weiner, J. S. The Piltdown forgery. Oxford University Press, 1955.

Papers discussing the phenomenon of fake fossils

1. Raja, Nussaïbah B., and Emma M. Dunne. “Fossil trafficking, fraud, and fakery.” In Art Crime in Context (2022): 61-79.
2. Romano, Marco, and Johannes Pignatti. “The fossil merchant from Verona: the first written testimony of paleontological forgery in Italy.” Rendiconti Online della Societa Geologica Italiana 55 (2021): 54-63.
3. Duffin, Christopher J. “‘Fish’, fossil and fake: medicinal unicorn horn.” Geological Society of London Special Papers (2017).
4. Campbell, Douglas Ian, and Patrick Michael Whittle. “Real or Fake? The Authenticity Question.” In Resurrecting Extinct Species: Ethics and Authenticity, (2017): 49-86.
5. Eriksson, Mats E., and George O. Poinar Jr. “Fake it till you make it—the uncanny art of forging amber.” Geology Today 31, no. 1 (2015): 21-27.
6. Corbacho, Joan, and C. Sendino. “Fossil fakes and their recognition.” Deposits Magazine 30 (2012): 35-40.
7. Zipfel, Bernard, Celeste Yates and Adam Yates. “A case of vertebrate fossil forgery from Madagascar.” Palaeontologica africana 45 (2010): 29-31.
8. Gardiner, Brian G. “The Piltdown forgery: a re-statement of the case against Hinton.” Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 139, no. 3 (2003): 315-335.
9. Milner, Angela C., Peter L. Forey, Terry Greenwood, and C. Terry Williams. “Caveat emptor–fake fossils from the Far East.” Geology Today 17, no. 2 (2001).
10. Grimaldi, David A., Alexander Shedrinsky, Andrew Ross, and Norbert S. Baer. “Forgeries of fossils in “amber”: history, identification and case studies.” Curator: The Museum Journal 37, no. 4 (1994): 251-274.
11. Martill, David M. “Fake fossils from Brazil.” Geology Today 10, no. 3 (1994): 111-115.
12. Mallatt, Jon M. “Dr Beringer’s fossils: A study in the evolution of scientific world view.” Annals of Science 39, no. 4 (1982): 371-380.