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Re: Labenne , EH3
Regarding the work and recent postings about Labenne Meteorites, I want to
say that I have gained a high respect for their work, correspondence, and
specimen quality (and their Internet site's photographic quality). I
congratulate them on their recent discoveries, and respect their decision
to keep locations a secret.
The delay of providing a location is a completely different issue than
hiding scientific data. All the information about the specimens has been
made public except the exact location of the find. This will come out
later. For now, no scientific protocols have been broken.
For those who have followed the recent incidents in the US over T. Rex and
other dinosaur fossils, revealing a location too early can have unusual
consequences. I visited the Black Hills Institute several years ago, and
was surprised at the level of politics involved in dinosauria. Even one of
my state congressmen (Montana, at that time) was submitting a bill
restricting the collection of vertebrate fossils on public lands-the Baccus
Bill.
Also in Montana, there are now more dinosaur fossils deep in controversy.
In fact, I know of several landowners who have fossils on their property,
but refuse to say where, or to issue prospecting permission. All because
they believe the discovery will be more of a detriment to their ranching,
rather than an opportunity, scientific or otherwise.
Not too long ago, I worked with Dave Gillette on a dinosaur dig in Utah.
The discovery of these particular fossils we were working on was made by a
fossil hunter who found so many that he got scared he was really messing up
an important discovery. He turned himself in because, at that moment
anyway, he had more respect for the medium he was black-marketing than he
did for himself. In the end, it turned out well, except for the fact that
several groups of fossil hunters have descended upon the site at night to
pillage what they could. Once, when I was at the site, a sheriff stopped by
to make sure everything was OK. He packed an assault rifle in addition to
his autopistol!
If the Labenne family is currently conducting one of the most extensive
Saharan meteorite searches in history, I have nothing but applause for
them. I will continue to support their work, patronize their business, and
trade with them. The missing data in my collection catalogue is little
sacrifice compared to the damage that could occur if other searchers
attempt to prematurely profit from the Labennes' work.
In addition, as I have posted before on this List, some of the "known"
locations for specimens in all our collections are incorrect due to the
questionable nature of how they were collected. We do not need more false
locations issued simply to please governments, landowners, and especially
collectors.
Martin
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