The Hybrid Identities of Fossil Mounts
Paleontological Society Benjamin H. Miller of Washington April 19, 2017 Introduction
Left: Original Triceratops mount (United States National Museum, 1905)
Bottom: Digital composite Triceratops and reconstructed mount (National Museum of Natural History, 1999) Introduction
Barosaurus and Allosaurus (American Museum of Natural History, 1991) Introduction
Barosaurus and Allosaurus (American Museum of Natural History, 1991) Introduction Why are fossil mounts interesting?
They embody a challenging duality between scientific specimens and cultural objects “Specimen-objects”
They’ve played a central role in scientific and public understanding of extinct animals for over 200 years
They are intractably situated in historic and social contexts
Road Map
I. A brief history
II. How mounts are made
III. Fossil mounts as science
IV. Fossil mounts as art
V. Fossil mounts as culture
I. History of Fossil Mounts
1795: Megatherium americanum is the first mounted fossil skeleton ever built
Megatherium (National Museum of Natural Science, Madrid) I. History of Fossil Mounts
1802: Charles Peale’s mastodon
Left: The Artist in His Museum (Peale, 1822)
Bottom: The Exhumation of the Mastodon (Peale, 1808)
I. History of Fossil Mounts
1802: Charles Peale’s mastodon
Left: Tabloid advertisement for Peale’s museum
Bottom: Peale’s mastodon on display at Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt, Germany
I. History of Fossil Mounts
Albert Koch’s chimeras: Missourium (1841) and Hydrarchos (1845) I. History of Fossil Mounts
1868: Leidy and Hawkins’ Hadrosaurus is the first mounted dinosaur skeleton I. History of Fossil Mounts
1890 – 1920: Golden Age of Fossil Mounts I. History of Fossil Mounts
Why?
Exploration of the western frontier (with federal money) Rise of big urban museums Dinosaurs are big, rare, and impressive No more Marsh and Cope
The Players:
Henry Osborn, Barnum Brown, and Adam Hermann (AMNH) Charles Gilmore and Norman Boss (USNM) William Holland and Arthur Coggeshall (CM) Elmer Riggs (FMNH)
Top: Tyrannosaurus (AMNH 1915) Bottom: Norman Boss and Palaeosyops (NMNH, 1945) I. History of Fossil Mounts
The Great American Sauropod Race
1905: AMNH “Brontosaurus” 1907: CMNH Diplodocus 1908: FMNH Apatosaurus I. History of Fossil Mounts
“The prize fighter of antiquity…the absolute warlord of the Earth…the king of all kings in the domain of animal life…the most formidable fighting animal of which there is any record whatsoever.”
New York Times, December 3, 1915
Tyrannosaurus (AMNH 1915) I. History of Fossil Mounts
The midcentury quiet, for fossil exhibits and vertebrate paleontology in general I. History of Fossil Mounts
“The only way to get a two-inch pipe through [the femur] was to break it all to pieces. The internal bone was discarded, and the surface pieces were put back together around the pipe. This procedure may not be proper, but it was justified in this case.”
– Orville Gilpin, FMNH, 1959 I. History of Fossil Mounts
1970s to present: Dinosaur Renaissance
• New discoveries show dinosaurs were active and socially sophisticated
• Dynamic, boundary-pushing mounts soon follow I. History of Fossil Mounts
Left: Gorgosaurus (AMNH 1914) Right: Edmontosaurus (PMNH 1901)
“It is intended that this huge specimen should convey to the observer the impression of the rapid rush of a Mesozoic brute. The whole expression is one of action and the spectator with little effort may endow this creature with many of its living attributes.” - Beecher, 1901 I. History of Fossil Mounts
Lightweight casts allow for an unforeseen level of dynamism
Above: Mammuthus, Houston Museum of Nature and Science Right: Allosaurus and Stegosaurus, Denver Museum of Nature and Science I. History of Fossil Mounts
Fossil mounts today:
Some classics remain exactly as they were, others have been restored and reimagined
Daspletosaurus, Field Museum of Natural History I. History of Fossil Mounts
• Mount-making companies: Research Casting International, Triebold, Black Hills Institute, Gaston Design, etc.
• More mounts than ever before II. How Mounts are Made
Basic method hasn’t changed much since Adam Hermann wrote the definitive guide in 1909 Start with a steel rod supporting the verts (earlier mounts used bolts, later mounts drilled) Mount completed spine at appropriate height Build and attach individual limbs Wire ribs in place Attach the skull last (drilling through palate)
Diplodocus (CM, 1907) Diplodocus (NMNH, 1932) II. How Mounts are Made
Left: “Brontosaurus” and Tyrannosaurus, AMNH Right: Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops, NMNH II. How Mounts are Made
Left: “Trachodon” (AMNH 1907) Right: Allosaurus (AMNH 1906) II. How Mounts are Made
By midcentury, far less care was being taken to preserve fossils Drilling and skewering bone Plaster everywhere Painting bone and reconstruction to match Emphasis on aesthetics and permanence
Images by Abby Telfer/Michelle Pinsdorf II. How Mounts are Made
Modern techniques = happier fossils!
Above: Triceratops, Houston Museum of Nature and Science Left: Close-up of Nation’s T. rex armature (Washington Post) II. How Mounts are Made
Left: Gaston Design workshop Right: Eastern Utah Paleontological Museum II. How Mounts are Made
3D printing technology allows skeletons to be assembled from specimens stored hundreds of miles apart
Left: Spinosaurus, National Geographic Museum Right: Alamosaurus, Perot Museum of Nature and Science Extra vertebrae to meet fire code
Brachiosaurus, FMNH (1993) III. Fossil Mounts as Science
Do scientists use fossil mounts? It depends…
Above: Hoplophoneus, LACM Right: Platybelodon, HMNS “Some of the worst skeletal mounts are those in which the person doing the mounting tries to impose their preconceived notions into the pose…you can make dinosaurs do anything on paper!” – Ken Carpenter (pers. comm., 2013)
Books and papers that have cited mounts in discussion of Triceratops posture:
Bakker 1986 Chapman et al. 2012 Dodson 1996 Fujiwara 2009 Fujiwara and Hutchinson 2012 Makovicky 2012 Osborn 1933 Paul and Christiansen 2000 III. Fossil Mounts as Science
Is the mount in question actually accessible?
Above: Gorgosaurus and E. annectens holotype, NMNH Right: Gorgosaurus, AMNH III. Fossil Mounts as Science
Left: Stegosaurus (NMNH) with Are they safe? armature bolted to leg bones
Below: CT scan of Triceratops humerus showing pyrite build-up “We only get one chance with
Images courtesy of Steve Jabo each specimen we recover and their care should take priority.”
– David Hone, 2008
Do casting and printing technology make real mounts obsolete?
III. Fossil Mounts as Science
Are the mounts reliable?
Do we know how much is real? If they’re wrong, it will be a long time before they’re fixed
Left: Brontosaurus, PMNH Above: Thescelosaurus holotype, NMNH II. How Mounts are Made
How much is original fossil material?
Above: Dimetrodon “restoration” in early 1980s involved painting over reconstructed bits
Left: How many Stegosaurus specimens make up this composite? No (living) person knows. III. Fossil Mounts as Science Are they at least informative to visitors?
Good mounts are hypotheses …and also data?
Above: Re-heading “Brontosaurus”, AMNH Left: Placerias and Smilosuchus, NMMNH IV. Fossil Mounts as Art IV. Fossil Mounts as Art
“Almost nothing displayed in museums was made to be seen in them” (Vogel 1991)
Fossil mounts are both the specimen and the exhibit context Models representing the “informed knowledge” of their creators
How is a taxidermy piece different from a leather sofa?
Left: Buettneria (AMNH) Right: Hyracotherium (NMNH) IV. Fossil Mounts as Art
“Nature permits or invites experience, art is intentionally made for an experience” (Polliquin 2012)
What makes it art?
Tyrannosaurus, Royal Tyrell Museum of Paleontology IV. Fossil Mounts as Art
The viewer plays a role in making the spectacle “real”
Above: Australopithecus, Cleveland Museum of Natural History Left: Metaxytherium, Acrophoca, and Eurhinodelphis, NMNH IV. Fossil Mounts as Art
Audience and specimens participate in a shared performance
Meaning comes from relationship with viewer
Left: Eremotherium, HMNS Right: Utahraptor, Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum IV. Fossil Mounts as Art
“Lost Objects” Allan McCollum, 1991
T-Rex 1000 (not actual title) Philippe Pasqua, 2013
V. Fossil Mounts as Culture
“And here is my first dinosaur – makes me feel like a kid again every time I look at it.” New Yorker, 1939
“I don’t mind you boosting your home state, Conroy, but stop telling the children that’s a California jack rabbit!” Saturday Evening Post, 1940 V. Fossil Mounts as Culture
Eremotherium (NMNH 1970)
Fossil mounts are inextricably entwined with the public perception of both paleontology and museums. Visitors expect fossils to be displayed this way… V. Fossil Mounts as Culture
…even when displaying a mount doesn’t make much sense.
Left: C. megalodon, Calvert Marine Museum Below: Saurophaganax, New Mexico Museum of Natural History V. Fossil Mounts as Culture
What is Sue?
• Most complete Tyrannosaurus rex yet found
• The one that got away
• A big payday
• Land
• Harbinger of the fossil poaching crisis
• Mascot
• Chicago landmark
• Source of puns Tyrannosaurus, FMNH 2000
V. Fossil Mounts as Culture
• The Diplodocus seen ‘round the world • “The single most viewed skeleton of any animal in the world” (Taylor 2008)
V. Fossil Mounts as Culture
London Pittsburgh Berlin Paris Vienna
Madrid St. Petersburg Buenos Aires Mexico City Vernal
• No less than 14 versions of Dippy worldwide • An attempt to broker world peace with dinosaurs • A shared point of reference for soldiers • More than any other single specimen, made “dinosaur” a household word
V. Fossil Mounts as Culture
• January 2015: NHM announces Dippy to be replaced by blue whale skeleton
• Later, plans emerge to take Dippy on tour and eventually create a permanent outdoor version
• Public outcry was immediate and intense
V. Fossil Mounts as Culture Oyungeral Tsedevdamba (Mongolian Minister of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, Presidential Advisor on Human Rights) campaigns against fossil poaching, and for repatriating historically collected specimens
Tarbosaurus seized from Eric Prokopki in 2013 Protoceratops collected during CAE (1922-1925) I wish that all Mongolian fossils…went back to Mongolia. But I am a pragmatist, and I doubt AMNH will ever return these fossils that are so central to their institutional identity. I am afraid Oyungeral’s endeavor will not lead to the return of any fossils and will instead lead to the AMNH being vilified by the Mongolian public.” -Dr. Bolortsetseg Minjin V. Fossil Mounts as Culture
• Giraffatitan fossils excavated by Werner Janensch’s team in German East Africa (now Tanzania), 1909- 1912
• Mount assembled in 1935, remounted in 2007
Left: Giraffatitan, Museum fur Naturkunde Below: Tendaguru excavation, ca. 1909 V. Fossil Mounts as Culture V. Fossil Mounts as Culture
• Henry F. Osborn: head of AMNH DVP from 1891 to 1908, president of the museum 1908 to 1933
• Extremely influential paleontologist (power to make or break careers)
• Defined modern expectations for what a museum exhibit should be V. Fossil Mounts as Culture
• Osborn hosted 2nd International Conference on Eugenics in 1922
• Lobbied for Emergency Quota Act and Immigration Act of 1924
• Racial anxieties and perceived superiority of Northern European “Nordic stock”
“If I were asked: what is the greatest danger, which threatens the American republic today? I would certainly reply: The gradual dying out among our people of those hereditary traits through which the principles of our religious, political, and social foundations were laid down, and their insidious replacement by traits of less noble character.” - Osborn’s preface to Grant, 1922: The Passing of the Great Race and the Racial Basis of European History V. Fossil Mounts as Culture
• Osborn’s political ideas inseparable from his non-Darwinian evolutionary ideas: • “Artistogenetic” evolution, in which organisms progress from weaker to stronger forms • Rapid evolution and high energetics signal success, stagnation means evolutionary defeat
• Telos-driven evolution was central theme in Osborn’s exhibits • Exhibits arranged in hierarchy from lesser to improved organisms, ending in lesser and improved expressions of humanity • Internal conflict with Boas and Mead
Hall of the Age of Man (AMNH, ca. 1920)
Conclusion
Fossil remains reconstructed into recognizable form, in the process becoming something else entirely
Simultaneously represent scientific, educational cultural, political, and artistic agendas
So what?
Unnamed titanosaur (AMNH 2016) Conclusion
National Fossil Hall concept art (NMNH 2015)
As museum work becomes more reflexive, we are challenged to tell the entire story of objects in our care
Mounts embody human stories as much as those of extinct monsters Selected References
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