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Re: Articles and Paper about Well-preserved 'Dinosaur Mummy'
I first learned about dinosaur "mummies" from "All About Dinosaurs," Roy
Chapman Andrews's children's book, in the 1950s (and was, ungrateful child,
disappointed that the specimen on display at the AMNH wasn't up to Egyptian
mummification standards!). Andrews emphasized that the original skin
pigments couldn't be recovered, so we still didn't know what color living
duckbill dinosaurs were: I remember thinking "Maybe sometime in the future
improved techniques WILL allow detection of tiny traces of original
chemistry and we WILL finally get an answer."
We're not there yet, but how many of our childhood dreams are even half way
to realization? As an outside observer of Paleontology, I am like an uncle
who only sees children at annual family gatherings and so NOTICES how much
they have grown. The progress in Paleontology since I was a child is awe
inspiring! Best wishes, professionals: keep up the good work!
Allen Hazen
Philosophy (PASI)
University of Melbourne