Paul Sereno is leading the charge to build two museums in West Africa — including one in the Sahara. The goal is a major repatriation of a nation’s ancient heritage, in a country without adequate museums for preserving its fossil heritage.
Paul Sereno, the longtime University of Chicago professor and so-called Indiana Jones of paleontology, a finder of lost civilizations and discoverer of new dinosaurs, one of the most beautiful people in the world , not to mention one of the 100people in the world , can see the light at the end of the tunnel, he says. He is not retiring, not even close. But he is, right now, on the other side of the planet, on an expedition he considers a sort of culmination of decades of digging.
Partly using the fossils he’s been excavating in Niger for years , Sereno is leading the charge to build two museums in the West African country — including one in the Sahara. The goal is a major repatriation of a nation’s ancient heritage, in a country without adequate museums for preserving its fossil heritage.
“Paul has been very earnest in what he is doing here, and he’s on a mission for Nigeriens to see their heritage and be proud,” said Bess Palmisciano, who lives in the Sahara and founded Rain for the Sahel and Sahara, a nonprofit educational organization for nomadic people in the Agadez region, the hub of Sereno’s expedition.
“So I had to invent a new way of collecting,” Sereno said. He calls it “sewer covers.” Essentially, fossils are covered in plaster and burlap, making a protective shell. “Then we find them, uncover and carefully lift off. You end up with a clean skeleton. We left 60-foot dinosaur skeletons this way in the desert. It’ll be a predictable treasure hunt.”
They also want to uncover potential lessons for the 21st century in how groups of people 10,000 years ago reacted to the last major climate change. “Before the Holocene” — the name given to the previous 11,700 years of the planet’s history, dating to the last major ice age — “where Chicago is now had ice forming along the area of the Stevenson Expressway, which pulled back and went into Canada and then you get our modern era,” Sereno said.
Until the late 1980s, Niger didn’t have laws about removing fossils. These days, it’s standard in most countries for a paleontologist to enter into an agreement to excavate a nation’s fossils. Sereno has had those agreements with the country for 30 years.
México Últimas Noticias, México Titulares
Similar News:También puedes leer noticias similares a ésta que hemos recopilado de otras fuentes de noticias.
Baker, Southern Illinois Stun Northwestern 31-24Nic Baker hit Jacob Garrett with a touchdown pass for the second time in the game to break a tie with 12:28 left in the fourth quarter, and Southern Illinois held on to top Northwestern 31-24. Garrett caught Baker’s toss to cap a 19-play, 74-yard drive to put the Salukis ahead by a touchdown as SIU beat a Big Ten opponent for the second time. A Missouri Valley Conference member, Southern Illinois’ other win over a Big Ten foe was against Indiana in 2006 when Salukis coach Nick Hill was their quarterback.
Leer más »
Builder starting downtown Dallas tower and rentals near White Rock LakeMill Creek Residential Trust starting work in the coming weeks on a downtown Dallas apartment high-rise and a retail and rental community near White Rock Lake.
Leer más »
Silver Strand Shoreline reopened, other sites remain closed or under advisoriesSilver Strand Shoreline reopened, other sites remain closed or under advisories [Breaking]
Leer más »