Messel Pit Fossil Site - UNESCO World Heritage Site
The UNESCO World Heritage Messel Pit Fossil site is a volcanic crater in south-western Germany, home to hundreds of thousands of fossils. More than 40,000 fossils dating from the Eocene Era (approx 35-50 million years ago) have been discovered, mostly in very good condition. The fossils here are extraordinarily well preserved, featuring in some cases skin, fur, teeth, scales, colours, even stomach contents!
More World Heritage sites in Germany:
More prehistoric World Heritage sites:
Monte San Giorgio:
Jurassic Coast of Dorset and East Devon:
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Messel Pit Fossil Site (UNESCO/NHK)
Messel Pit is the richest site in the world for understanding the living environment of the Eocene, between 57 million and 36 million years ago. In particular, it provides unique information about the early stages of the evolution of mammals and includes exceptionally well-preserved mammal fossils, ranging from fully articulated skeletons to the contents of stomachs of animals of this period.
Source: UNESCO TV / © NHK Nippon Hoso Kyokai
URL:
Messel Fossils – Behind the scenes
Here's a short behind the scenes look in the laboratory collections of the Hessisches Natural History Museum ('Messel Museum'), Darmstadt, Germany. Filmed in June, 2018, during a research trip.
This is only a fraction of the excellent collections in the museum. On display, they have some of the best Messel fossils in the world - Eocene, 47 million-years-old.
Visit the museum's website here:
The Messel Pit
... The Missing Link In Human Evolution? (Part 3): The Messel Pit.
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Official Press Release (PDF):
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Scientific Publication:
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Scientists Discover 'Missing Link' In Human Evolution (Source: Sky News, May 19, 2009)
Scientists say they have found a primate fossil that shows our connection with other mammals and our earliest human ancestor. These pictures are from the programme The Link by Atlantic Productions.
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Scientists hail stunning fossil
By Christine McGourty
Science correspondent, BBC News
The beautifully preserved remains of a 47-million-year-old, lemur-like creature have been unveiled in the US. Christine McGourty takes a look at the beautifully preserved primate fossil.
The preservation is so good, it is possible to see the outline of its fur and even traces of its last meal.
The fossil, nicknamed Ida, is claimed to be a missing link between today's higher primates - monkeys, apes and humans - and more distant relatives.
But some independent experts, awaiting an opportunity to see the new fossil, are sceptical of the claim.
And they have been critical of the hype surrounding the presentation of Ida.
The fossil was launched amid great fanfare at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, by the city's mayor.
Although details of the fossil have only just been published in a scientific journal - PLoS One - there is already a TV documentary and book tie-in.
She belongs to the group from which higher primates and human beings developed but my impression is she is not on the direct line
Dr Jens Franzen
Ida was discovered in the 1980s in a fossil treasure-trove called Messel Pit, near Darmstadt in Germany. For much of the intervening period, it has been in a private collection.
The investigation of the fossil's significance was led by Jorn Hurum of the Natural History Museum in Oslo, Norway.
He said the fossil creature was the closest thing we can get to a direct ancestor and described the discovery as a dream come true.
The female animal lived during an epoch in Earth history known as the Eocene, which was crucial for the development of early primates - and at first glance, Ida resembles a lemur.
But the creature lacks primitive features such as a so-called toothcomb, a specialised feature in which the lower incisor and canine teeth are elongated, crowded together and projecting forward. She also lacks a special claw used for grooming.
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The Grube Messel (Messel Pit) is a disused quarry near the village of Messel (Hesse), about 35 km southeast of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Bituminous shale was mined there. Because of its plethora of fossils, it has significant geological and scientific importance. The Messel Pit was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site on December 9, 1995.
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The Mystery of the Eocene’s Lethal Lake
Check out America from Scratch:
In 1800s, miners began working in exposed deposits of mud near the town of Messel, Germany. They were extracting oil from the rock and along with the oil, they found beautifully preserved fossils of animals from the Eocene. What happened to these Eocene animals? And why were their remains so exquisitely preserved?
Two additional notes!
-At 00:56, we incorrectly labelled a Darwinius fossil as Thaumaturus. Thaumaturus was a fish and the fossil we show is definitely not a fish.
-Also, an additional image credit is required: Dmitry Bogdanov illustrated the fish we used to show scavengers.
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References:
Kling, George W., et al. The 1986 lake nyos gas disaster in cameroon, west Africa. Science 236.4798 (1987): 169-175.
Vaselli, Orlando, et al. The “evil’s winds”(mazukus) at Nyiragongo Volcano (Democratic Republic of Congo). Acta Vulcanol 2003 (2002): 14-15.
Zhang, Youxue. Dynamics of CO2-driven lake eruptions. Nature 379.6560 (1996): 57.
Storch, Gerhard, Bernard Sigé, and Jörg Habersetzer. Tachypteron franzeni n. gen., n. sp., earliest emballonurid bat from the Middle Eocene of Messel (Mammalia, Chiroptera). Paläontologische Zeitschrift 76.2 (2002): 189-199.
Franzen, Jens Lorenz, Christine Aurich, and Jörg Habersetzer. Description of a well preserved fetus of the European Eocene Equoid Eurohippus messelensis. PloS one 10.10 (2015): e0137985.
Franzen, J. L. Exceptional preservation of Eocene vertebrates in the lake deposit of Grube Messel (West Germany). Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 311.1148 (1985): 181-186.
Lenz, Olaf K., et al. New palynology-based astronomical and revised 40 Ar/39 Ar ages for the Eocene maar lake of Messel (Germany). International Journal of Earth Sciences 104.3 (2015): 873-889.
Joyce, Walter G., et al. Caught in the act: the first record of copulating fossil vertebrates. Biology Letters 8.5 (2012): 846-848.
Vitek, Natasha S., et al. Exceptional three-dimensional preservation and coloration of an originally iridescent fossil feather from the Middle Eocene Messel Oil Shale. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 87.4 (2013): 493-503.
Koenigswald, Wighart V., Andreas Braun, and Thekla Pfeiffer. Cyanobacteria and seasonal death: a new taphonomic model for the Eocene Messel lake. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 78.2 (2004): 417-424.
Pirrung, Michael, G. Buchel, and Wolfgang Jacoby. The Tertiary volcanic basins of Eckfeld, Enspel and Messel (Germany). ZEITSCHRIFT-DEUTSCHEN GEOLOGISCHEN GESELLSCHAFT 152.1 (2001): 27-60.
Franzen, Jens L., et al. Complete primate skeleton from the middle Eocene of Messel in Germany: morphology and paleobiology. PLoS one 4.5 (2009): e5723.
Messel Pit in 60 secs | UNESCO World Heritage
The Messel Pit near Darmstadt is the remnants of a 47-million-year-old volcanic lake, where prehistoric animals and plants have been preserved. Once surrounded by tropical primeval forest, the Messel Pit today is a unique fossil site. It became Germany's first UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site in 1995.
UNESCO: Messel Pit
An old volcanic lake in western Germany preserved some of the best Eocene fossils of any site anywhere in the world. The Messel Pit has given a glimpse into a world that has been gone for 47 million years.
Sources include:
whc.unesco.org
wikipedia
messelmuseum.de/index_galerie.html (inc. the industrial era pictures)
Sources on site
Images of Lake Nyos are in the public domain via the US Geological Survey
Music:
Journeyman by Aakash Gandhi
Heavenly by Aakash Gandhi
The Messel Pit
The Messel Fossil Pit
A UNESCO World Natural Heritage site
Messel, Darmstadt
Germany
Die Grube Messel
Beschreibung
Fossils from Messel in museum Darmstadt
In the Hessichen Landesmuseum Darmstadt, unique fossils of the Messel pit are exhibited. Among the highlights are eohippus (Propalaeotherium), tapir, birds and insects.
Messel: Excavation and preparation
In the pit Messel near Darmstadt unique fossils are found. This video shows the excavation work and the pretation of the fossils at the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt.
ACT [2018-12-08] _ Reading 4 : The Messel Pit
สัมมนาวิทยาศาตร์ Messel Pit Fossil Site
Clubhaus Messel
Echo Online Artikel vom 21.02.2016
Bruchgasse Messel mit Marc
Primalhorse Peter invite´s us to Messel Pit near Frankfurt (Germany)
We had a lot of fun with Peter Primalhorse to follow the history of horses!
RR7652B GERMAN FOSSILS
RR7652B GERMAN FOSSILS
Over the last five years a disused oil-shale mine at
Messel, near Frankfurt, has been providing palaeontologists
with a wealth of astonishingly well-preserved fossil remains
of plants, insects and animals from the sub-tropical swamp
that covered this part of Europe 50 million years ago. But
now the researches are being threatened by the local council's
plan to turn the site into a rubbish tip. Experts at the
Senckenberg museum in Frankfurt are now preparing some of the
best specimens for an exhibition to draw attention to their cause.
Film: Rev – Sound: Mag/SOF – Colour– Available in HD
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The Messel Slate Pit or The Lake of Bones!
On the way to Koblenz, we stop by the Messel Slate Pit. It's not a quarry, but an amazing site that has some of the best preserved fossils from the Eocene Epoch. Those who know me, know that I'm absolutely in love with science, horror stories, and dirty jokes. This site has all three. This is where the most complete mammal fossil of the Eocene was discovered. The lake that existed here 50 million years ago was a deadly hazard that would randomly belch death. The museum also has a display of petrified screwing turtles. Yes, you read that right.
Fun fact: This video almost didn't happen because the Government shutdown means that United States Geological Survey's site of information is unavailable.
FACT CORRECTION: The released gas would have to be Carbon Dioxide. My source mentioned Methane, but the incident was probably like the Lake Nyos tragedy.
Ida, the most complete fossil primate ever found from the Middle Eocene of Messel in Germany
Citation: Franzen JL, Gingerich PD, Habersetzer J, Hurum JH, von Koenigswald W, et al. (2009) Complete Primate Skeleton from the Middle Eocene of Messel in Germany: Morphology and Paleobiology. PLoS ONE 4(5): e5723. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0005723
Darwinius masillae is most likely not the missing link.
Contents of the primate's stomach
This video uses MANY items from the Creative Commons. Youtube's description length restriction makes it impossible for me to post all the attributions and credits here. Please click this link to see a complete credit list of all the talented people whose work contributed to this video.
Series created by Kristian Boruff
Green screen and additional prop photography by Tyler Graim
Intro theme arranged and performed by Steven O'Brien
Punching by Tyler Graim
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Winter from The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi
Performed by The Air Force Strings of the United States Air Force Band
Violin Solo performed by TSgt. Jessica Dan
License: Public Domain
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[Wikipedia] Messel
Messel is a municipality in the district of Darmstadt-Dieburg in Hesse near Frankfurt am Main in Germany.
The village is first mentioned, as Masilla, in the Lorsch codex. Messel was the property of the lords of Groschlag from ca. 1400 to 1799. After the extinction of the Groschlag male lineage, the village would have passed to the Archbishopric of Mainz but the population refused to accept this transition and paid homage to the daughters of the Groschlag family instead. The minister of the archbishopric, von Albini, consequently occupied the village with a force of 50 hussars. In 1806, the village fell to the Grand Duchy of Hesse.
The nearby Messel pit is an important site for Eocene fossils.
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