Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site Fossil acquisition strategy for the Jurassic Coast- Consultation Document A study to identify ways to safeguard important scientific fossils from the Dorset and East Devon Coast World Heritage Site – prepared by Weightman Associates and Hidden Horizons on behalf of the Jurassic Coast Team, Dorset County Council p Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site Fossil acquisition strategy for the Jurassic Coast CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………………………2 2. BACKGROUND…………………………………………………………………………………..2 3. SPECIFIC ISSUES………………………………………..……………………………………….5 4. CONSULTATION WITH STAKEHOLDERS………………………………………………5 5. DISCUSSION……………………………………………………………………………………..11 6. CONCLUSIONS…………………………..……………………………………………………..14 7. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………………………....14 8. APPENDIX..……………………………………………………………………………………...14 1 JURASSIC COAST FOSSIL ACQUISITION STRATEGY 1. Introduction The aim of this project is to identify ways to safeguard important scientific fossils from the Dorset and East Devon Coast World Heritage Site. The identification of placements in accredited museums would enable intellectual access for scientific study and education. Two consulting companies Weightman Associates and Hidden Horizons have been commissioned to undertake this Project. Weightman Associates is a partnership of Gill Weightman and Alan Weightman; they have been in partnership for twenty years working on museum and geology projects. Hidden Horizons Ltd is a museum and heritage consultancy formed in 2013 by Will Watts. When UNESCO granted World Heritage status to the Dorset and East Devon Coast in 2001 it recognised the importance of the Site’s geology and geomorphology. The Jurassic Coast Management Plan 2014-2019 has as one of its aims to “To Conserve and enhance the Site and its setting for science, education and public enjoyment” and the Plan states that a critical success factor is “An increase in the number of scientifically important fossils found along the site that are acquired by or loaned back to local accredited museums”. This report examines acquisition strategies to ascertain the potential for future storage and display of specimens. The World Heritage Site has a Collecting Code and a Recording Scheme. An Acquisition Strategy is considered the next stage towards completing the jigsaw of a suitable repository for the scientific study and display of fossils. The ideal for scientific study is when the specimens are accessioned in an accredited museum. The authors consulted with the following agencies and personnel for formal and informal discussions and advice on a strategy for storing and display of fossil specimens and these included: Jurassic Coast Trust, Jurassic Coast Team, Jurassic Coast Museum Partnership, Fossil Collectors, Museum Curators including Dorset’s Museum Coordinator, Dorset County Museum, Lyme Regis Museum, Bridport Museum, Royal Albert Museum Exeter, Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, Natural History Museum, British Geological Survey, Geological Curators Group, Natural England and Jurassica (a proposed world-class geological centre in a former quarry in Portland). 2. Background to the Project The Site contains a number of Geological Conservation Review sites for palaeontology while the fossils also form an important element in many of the stratigraphical interests. Virtually any part of the Site has the potential to produce something of considerable scientific interest although some areas are far more productive than others. Lyme Regis is the place where the first marine reptiles were recognised by science together with the first UK pterosaur. Many of the fish species are unique to the Lower Jurassic rocks exposed either side of the town. Other notable sites include those that contain the Kimmeridge Shale and the Purbeck Beds together with the scattered and very rare Triassic reptile and amphibian faunas of East Devon. 2 Fossils from this coast have found their way into museum collections around the World and specimens new to science continue to be found almost on an annual basis. Museums may acquire specimens by making finds, through loans, donation, and the development of a personal collection that becomes widely accessible. Museums may pay for specimen conservation and may purchase specimens. Collectors, both amateur and professional (and mainly local), have an essential role in recovering the important specimens before they are damaged or destroyed by the sea. There has been a long association between these collectors and scientists or museum curators, dating back to the days of Mary Anning. However, over the last two decades, considerably more important fossils have been found than have been acquired by accredited museums. This might be due to a number of factors; declining/lack of funding, a reluctance to purchase specimens by museums, a lack of capacity to physically house specimens and a desire by some collectors to hold on to their best specimens either due to a wish to maintain their own collections or in the hope of a ‘World Class’ museum being established for the World Heritage Site where they could be satisfactorily displayed. Many of the most significant finds remain in the collections made by a handful of collectors but it seems increasingly unlikely to remain so and there is a pressing need to establish what can be done to acquire these specimens in accredited museums ideally locally or elsewhere. Since 2006, the local museums have formed the Jurassic Coast Museums Partnership and this has led to some very considerable success in funding for acquisition and display. In 2008 Collecting Cultures provided £200,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund matched with £30,000 from Dorset and Devon county councils and an additional £12,000 from the PRISM to furnish museums with representative fossils and create displays to tell their own part of the Jurassic Coast story. Specimens were selected for their scientific significance wherever possible. However, the project also essentially filled any remaining display space within these local museums while storage remains limited. In 2013 Arts Council England provided a grant to help the partnership museums better tell their stories along the Jurassic Coast and explore opportunities for joint marketing and training. This included a major digitisation initiative which brought just under 1,000 specimens into an online database at www.jurassiccoast.org/fossilfinder . 3 Plate 1 Fossils from the Jurassic Coast displayed at Lyme Regis Museum Current expansion plans are under development for Dorset County Museum, Lyme Regis and Bridport museums but they will not significantly increase their capacity to display fossils although they will enable better use of existing space. The Dorset County Museum plans describe a Collections Discovery Centre, and reconfiguration of their gallery space to create a new gallery on ‘The Story of Dorset’. The main part of the proposal includes a large new storage facility which should provide tens of years’ worth of future storage for geological and other collections. None of these plans include any funding for further acquisition. The Museum of Jurassic Life based around the Steve Etches Collection is a charitable initiative that has been able to establish a registered museum for this internationally important collection that should be open by 2016. In addition to working with museums, the Jurassic Coast Team has also supported capital projects at Durlston Castle, the Chesil Beach Centre, Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre, the Sidmouth shelters, and Seaton Jurassic which have either happened or are in development, and were identified in the Site’s Interpretation Action Plan. It also has ambitions for a residential study centre for the World Heritage Site. Finally, Jurassica is a major multi million pound independent proposal on Portland involving a large dome enclosing a quarry in which fossils can be displayed alongside interpretation, including animatronic marine reptiles. They plan to borrow and may purchase some fossils from collectors and have already made an approach to some. Some local collectors state that they would still rather see a ‘West Dorset museum’ over placing their collections on Portland or elsewhere. The Jurassic Coast Trust has established a Mary Anning Fund to support museum acquisition but has not yet prioritised how to build up significant funds within it. One particular issue is the need to be able to act quickly when a specimen presents itself in order to be sure to secure it. Fundraising, in a museum context, however, traditionally takes place having identified an object for acquisition and can take years. The Mary Anning Fund needs to be able to raise funds, essentially for unknown specimens, in order to be in a position to contribute when it is needed. 4 A fossil collecting code of conduct has been operating between Lyme Regis and Hive Beach on the West Dorset coast since 1999 in reflection of the extraordinary richness of specimens found in this area but the recording scheme that accompanies it (accessible at: http://fossilcode.org/dorset/ ) shows that less than 10% of the specimens defined as being of key scientific importance have actually been acquired by museums. Most of the rest remain in the collections of local collectors. The code resolves any issues of provenance in the majority of land that produces fossils and therefore that is not something required from this work, although rightful ownership is a central issue in acquisition and is recognised accordingly. 3. Specific issues The