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Fossilization is rare. It's as simple as that.
by bena 6y ago
Fossilization is rare. It's as simple as that.
- masklinn 6y agoYou might have misunderstood GP's question: remains were found in this exact cave in 1939, they're wondering why there's such a gap in a cave known to have held fossils. Dozens of remains have been found elsewhere in europe in the meantime. There have been so many such discoveries that the Wikipedia List of Neanderthal fossils doesn't even bother listing them, only a dozen "notable" finds.
- rmk 6y agoYes, I understand that fossilization is rare, but that makes it even more puzzling: you'd want to dig furiously if you did find remains in a confined area.
- bena 6y agoCave systems can be quite large. It could have taken 80 years to get through enough of the cave. And then you have to consider it's a variation of the halting problem. Until you find something, you can't know if you're actually going to find something or nothing. So do you keep digging in this spot or do you move to another spot? So while they already found remains in this cave, the new remains probably weren't in the immediate area. 5 days, 5 years, 50 years, none of those timeframes would be surprising. It all tracks.
- RosanaAnaDana 6y agoThere is a definite policy among some paleontological research groups to intentionally not excavate a site fully, understanding that techniques and technologies will improve with time, and they understand that current methods may limit futures researchers ability to do their work.