Continental trace fossils and museum exhibits - Geological Curators ...

TRACE FOSSILS – THE POOR RELATIONS OF MUSEUMPALAEONTOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS?by David N. Lewis and Stephen K. DonovanLewis, D.N. and Donovan, S.K. 2006. Trace fossils – the poor relations of museumpalaeontological collections? The Geological Curator 8(5): 255-259.Collections of fossil invertebrates in museums are dominated by certain taxa, such asmolluscs, whereas other minor groups are ‘Cinderella’ taxa, of little general interest.Invertebrate trace fossils belong to this latter group, rarely utilised for museum displaysand of scientific interest to only a small audience of experts. Organisation of suchcollections may be alphabetical, stratigraphical, geographical, ethological or acombination of these, but should not be ‘biological’. As illustrations, two nationalcollections are discussed, those of the Natural History Museum, London, and theNationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum, Leiden.David N. Lewis, Department of Palaeontology, The Natural History Museum, CromwellRoad, London, SW7 5BD; e-mail: d.lewis@nhm.ac.uk, and Stephen K. Donovan,Department of Palaeontology, Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum, Postbus 9517, NL-2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands; e-mail: donovan@naturalis.nnm.nl. Received 16thFebruary 2005.IntroductionThe palaeontological collections of most museums,both national and provincial, are primarily composedof recognisable and nominally easily identifiable andclassifiable fossils, such as molluscs, echinoderms,trilobites, plants and so on. These are the groupswhich the majority of collectors have gathered sincesuch things attracted attention, and which people liketo collect, own and work on; when displayed in thepublic galleries they attract the attention of a broadspectrum of public visitors. Molluscs are a goodexample; they include a wide variety of attractivetaxa, are commonly well-preserved, can be easilyidentified and are widely distributed. The most popularpalaeontological exhibitions which draw people intonatural history museums are, most probably, thosewhich have dinosaurs, large mammals and fossilhominids.However, there are other parts of palaeontologicalcollections that are much less popular with theprofessional and public for a variety of reasons,including their aesthetic appeal, the difficulties andvagaries of classification, the overall shortage ofexpertise and, importantly, the amount of space theycan take up when stored. These ‘Cinderella’ groupsinclude such invertebrates as tentaculitids,scolecodonts and machaeridians. They also includecollections of trace fossils, notorious for the amountof storage space they consume. Only occasionally dotrace fossils manage to capture the public imagination,such as when dinosaur trackways are displayed(Ensom 2006). However, that is because they weremade by dinosaurs, a major visitor attraction with orwithout trackways. Exhibitions of trails made by,say, gastropods or worms will not have the sameimpact, or indeed, any impact at all, although werecognise that, for example, large arthropod trackwayscan make exciting public displays (Briggs and Rolfe1983).The study of invertebrate trace fossils (principallytheir tracks, trails, burrows and bioerosive structures)is not very active in the UK at present, though thereare some enthusiasts; in The Netherlands, S.K.D. andassociates are the only active proponents. As aconsequence of their relative lack of popularity and ausually corresponding lack of resources, thecollections themselves may also suffer from a lack ofcuratorial care, such that at best they are put on a merecare-and-maintenance level, if that. This in timeleads to a general disorganisation and evendeterioration of the collections, which in turn leads tothem being ignored, forgotten and, perhaps, ultimatelybeing thrown out as ‘rubbish’.Even in national museum collections trace fossilsmay be ignored when, because of a lack of resourcesand expertise, the presence of important material is-255-