Abstract
Scientific practices stemming from colonialism, whereby middle- and low-income countries supply data for high-income countries and the contributions of local expertise are devalued, are still prevalent today in the field of palaeontology. In response to these unjust practices, countries such as Mexico and Brazil adopted protective laws and regulations during the twentieth century to preserve their palaeontological heritage. However, scientific colonialism is still reflected in many publications describing fossil specimens recovered from these countries. Here, we present examples of ‘palaeontological colonialism’ from publications on Jurassic–Cretaceous fossils from NE Mexico and NE Brazil spanning the last three decades. Common issues that we identified in these publications are the absence of both fieldwork and export permit declarations and the lack of local experts among authorships. In Mexico, access to many fossil specimens is restricted on account of these specimens being housed in private collections, whereas a high number of studies on Brazilian fossils are based on specimens illegally reposited in foreign collections, particularly in Germany and Japan. Finally, we outline and discuss the wider academic and social impacts of these research practices, and propose exhaustive recommendations to scientists, journals, museums, research institutions and government and funding agencies in order to overcome these practices.
Highlights
Scientific advances played an important role in supporting the agenda of European colonialism
The illegal trade of fossils in Brazil has been blamed on the presence of laws; Martin [23,24] states that the very fact that laws exist for the protection of these fossils could be the reason that officials can be bribed and these fossils can be sold for a considerable price on the illicit market
There are several arguments commonly used by academic researchers and fossil collectors to defend unethical scientific practices which result in scientific colonialism, in Brazil and Mexico and in other countries
Summary
Scientific advances played an important role in supporting the agenda of European colonialism. The illegal trade of fossils in Brazil has been blamed on the presence of laws; Martin [23,24] states that the very fact that laws exist for the protection of these fossils could be the reason that officials can be bribed and these fossils can be sold for a considerable price on the illicit market Both Mexico and Brazil are former European colonies with vast territories, large sedimentary basins and a huge palaeontological potential that remains relatively unexplored. The Crato and Romualdo formations of the Araripe Basin in NE Brazil and the Sabinas, Parras and La Popa basins (Mexican Gulf ) in NE Mexico have produced an unprecedented wealth of Jurassic to Cretaceous (200–66 million years ago) fossils These extremely rich deposits of well-preserved fossils, known as Lagerstätten, have enriched our view of evolution, revealing a plethora of new vertebrates (figures 1 and 2), invertebrates, plants and fungi [34–37]. We propose alternatives and recommendations to scientists, journals, research institutions and government agencies in order to overcome these practices and ensure that future palaeontological research is more ethical and sustainable
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