BATALLERIA 16 2011 37 - 45 (Barcelona, gener 2011) ISSN 0214-7831 Palaeontological fakes Falsiicaciones paleontológicas Joan Corbacho*, Consuelo Sendino** & M’Hamed Tahiri*** *Museo Geológico del Seminario de Barcelona, Diputación 231 - 08007 Barcelona (Spain) ** Dep. Palaeontology, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, london SW7 5BD (United Kingdom) *** Musée Paléontologique Tahiri d’Arfoud, rue d’Arfoud á Rissane - Arfoud (Morocco) ABSTRACT – Different kinds of fossil fakes from around the world are described. Well-known methods for their detection are explained, as well as the means used for making the fakes. KEY WORDS – Palaeontology, fakes, fossils, Morocco, Russia, USA, China. RESUMEN – Se detallan diferentes formas de falsiicaciones de fósiles de distintos países del mundo. También se describen los métodos conocidos para su correcta detección, así como los medios que se utilizan. Introduction With time there are increasingly more fossil fakes and countries where it is possible to ind them. On the one hand, this is a result of the large demand for fossils; on the other hand, it is due to the outlawing of commerciali- zation and sale in different countries combined with the economical necessity of many families that use fossils as a source of income. In this case the intermediaries or sellers are mostly responsible for their commerce as they usually know what they sell. This is the third work published on fakes. The irst one, Corbacho et al. (2007), was about trilobite fakes from North Africa and the second one, Corbacho & Vela (2009), studied non-trilobite fossil fakes of North Afri- ca. This is the reason why we will not insist in the fossil fakes made in North Africa. Antecedents The history of fossil fakes is almost as old as the his- tory of palaeontology. There are several previous studies that deal with fakes in general. Liñán (1992) described some aspects of the irst fos- sils used by humans in the Neolithic. No fakes are cited, but it is interesting to emphasize their use for exchange in commerce. The vicissitudes of J.B.A. Beringer’s (1667-1740), who was Professor of Medicine in Würzburg, Franco- nia (Germany), combine extravagance, ingenuity and a Germanic sense of humour. Some malicious colleagues of Beringer, who were motivated by the Beringer’s ar- rogant character, made extraordinary fakes. These were then sold to Beringer who was misled into believing that they were genuine and wrote a book about these “fossils” (Pl. 3 Fig. 2). When he discovered the trickery, the perpe- trators were brought to trial. After feeling to have made ridicule, Beringer tried to buy all copies of his books to destroy them. A contemporary palaeontological journal, Beringeria, named in Beringer’s honour, shows some of Beringer’s “fossils” on its cover. See Taylor (2004) for a full account of the Beringer fraud. One of irst commercial fakes was carried out in the 19th century by Joachim Barrande’s (1799-1883) assist- ants in the current Czech Republic (Burkhard & Bode, 2003). Another very different case is represented by Pilt- down Man from Sussex in England. This fraud was made by an expert mixing the jaw of a modern ape, made to look old by treatment with ferrocyanide, and a primitive human skull. The luorine absorption test on the teeth eventually revealed that the lower jaw came from a re- cent ape (Oakley, 1964), but not before many scientists had accepted Piltdown Man as the ‘missing link’ between apes and humans. Burkhard & Bode (2003) published a sales catalogue noting different kinds of fake trilobites from Morocco. Later, Tierney (2005) explained in an interesting and di- vulging way the complex world of fossil fakes. Fortey (2008) cited an anecdote in which Richard Meinertzhagen deceived the Natural History Museum in London delib- erately with fraudulent samples of birds. More recently