Ethnopaleontology
Study of human relationships with fossils across cultures and time.
Ethnopaleontology examines how humans interact with fossils, the preserved remains of ancient organisms. It encompasses both historical and contemporary cultural engagements with these materials, from folk beliefs to practical applications.
Quick Facts
- Proposers
- Heracli Astudillo
- Geraldo Jorge Barbosa de Moura
- Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque
- Earliest known fossil manuport
- Erfoud manuport from Acheulean site
Facts from the source article.
History and development
Applications include medicinal use of turtle fossils in Latin America, Ordovician ichnofossils in Monsagro architecture, Triassic coprolites in Thai amulets, and ancient crabs in Siddha medicine. Moura and Albuquerque placed ethnopaleontology within geomythology, though this reliance has been questioned.
Fossils in culture
Cultural use of fossils spans millennia. The Erfoud manuport, a fossilized cuttlefish fragment from an Acheulean site, suggests pre-Homo sapiens engagement if genuine. Long gu, fossil mammal bones in Traditional Chinese Medicine, were once considered dragon bones. Amber and jet have been decorative since prehistory. Medieval lapidarists like Albertus Magnus discussed animal-related stones, but their categories rarely match modern ones: snakestone could be ammonites or other materials; thunderstones included stone tools, belemnites, echinoids, or ammonites; aetites became associated with Neospirifer in parts of South America; toadstone is now Scheenstia teeth or bezoars; tonguestone is shark teeth; lyngurium may be amber. Fossil fuels dominate modern cultural use.
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