Fossilized treasures in glassy amber preserve countless stories about ancient forest landscapes. dinosaurs roamed. Sometimes, these precious fossils tell a different story.
Myanmar is one example. Despite being in political turmoil, Myanmar has also been a magnet for paleontology thanks to its extraordinary amber specimens. These are often sourced illegally or unethically.
According to a new study – Scientists have described it not involved in the work as “one of the most important papers in paleontology you’ll read this year” – research on fossils encased in Myanmar amber is booming, a direct result of ongoing violent conflicts in parts of the country where amber is mined.
Amber from Myanmar has given rise to a number of beautiful specimens. They are preserved in stunning detail. From Tails of feathered dinosaursTo fossilized FlowersMetallic InsectsBurnt-orange blobs formed from hardened tree resin are evidence of life that existed some 99 million year ago.
These are just a few of the many discoveries. Include a cost.
According to reports, the trade in lucrative amber and the fossils it sometimes contains is fueling conflicts within Myanmar.The ethical minefieldFor paleontologists who wish to study the specimens.
“We already knew that the situation was bad through anecdotes and journalistic investigations, but our study finally puts the situation into perspective and shows just how bad the situation really is,” paleontologist Nussaïbah Raja of Friedrich Alexander University (FAU) of Erlangen–Nuremberg in Germany explains to ScienceAlert in an email.
“Our analysis shows how scientists have exploited the legal conundrum Myanmar amber represents.”
Exporting fossil materials to Myanmar has been forbidden since 2015. The amber can be legally exported, so the fossils found within it are in a legal gray zone.
“Where do the fossil end and amber begin?” Raja asks in an email.
According to the new analysis, research on Myanmar amber fossils continues to be a booming field. Researchers reviewed nearly 1,000 papers on Myanmar amber fossils published in scientific journals over the last 30 years and discovered that this explosion corresponds closely to major political, legal and economic events in Myanmar at the time.
Some paleontologists have raised questions about the study results, arguing that there has been a dramatic increase in research into Myanmar amber fossils. This is simply due to growing academic interest.
The study authors claim that the “explicitly related” increase in papers about fossils kept in the golden gem is due to the country’s violent conflict and the “seriously inadequate” enforcement of national laws. Foreign paleontologists are also among the beneficiaries.
Emma Dunne (FAU paleontologist) said that Myanmar amber was the best example of how law loopholes are still being exploited. Share the team’s paper on Twitter
Most amber is found in northern Myanmar, where it is mined by the conflict-ridden Kachin state. There, rival political parties have been fighting for control over the region and making a profit from the amber trading.
The illegally smuggled gemstones across the border to China are sold on markets to private collectors and paleontologists. This leaves local scientists in Myanmar with little time to study the ancient remains.
Raja says, “Until 2022 there were no Myanmar-based authors who contributed to a scientific article that described a fossil embedded into Myanmar amber.”
China has published more papers about Myanmar amber fossils in 2014 than any other country. This is followed closely by the United States. The researchers believe that this is due in part to the increase in Myanmar amber entering Chinese markets starting in 2014.
Raja, Dunne and their colleagues observed an extreme form parachute science in which amber specimens are obtained by commercial routes, rather than fieldwork. According to Raja, Dunne and others, national laws relating fossils and gemstones don’t seem to apply. Send an email.
Parachute science – where researchers from wealthy nations jet in to conduct research without involving local scientists – is a legacy of a dark colonial history that continues to be exploited today, and which ultimately Our view of Earth’s life is being distorted.
Similar studies have been done on the authorship of scientific articles in recent years. exposed the pervasiveness of parachute scienceGeoscience and coral reef research. It is not surprising that paleontology is a popular subject.
“Documenting who is – or more precisely, which countries are – publishing on Myanmar amber allows us to clearly see that this same imbalance is extremely prevalent in this field of research,” Dunne adds.
Despite Calls from paleontological societyFor scientific journals to not publish papers on fossils of Myanmar amber Some journals adopting stricter policiesIn response, there has been little progress in curbing unethical or illegal research in paleontology.
According to the latest analysis, only 2 out of 222 papers describing fossils found in Myanmar amber published since 2020 included details in the supplementary methods about how their specimen was ethically and legally obtained.
This data may be alarming to some researchers but it is a stark reminder for other paleontologists. Becoming aware of the field’s colonial historyHow to raise ethical standards.
“Myanmar amber looks beautiful. These fossils are amazing. “I feel the excitement and desire for them to be studied,” University of Edinburgh paleontologist Steve Brusatte TweetThe study was thoroughly enjoyed. “But, to me, even though war still rages in the world, no fossil is worth one human life.”
The study was published by Biology Communications. It was co-authored by Zin-Maung-Maung-Thein, a paleontologist at the University of Mandalay in Myanmar.
