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Now that a serious (centenary) effort is under way to discover who, of thirty suspects, really forged the Piltdown Man fossil in 1912, here’s another science mystery: In “Lost treasures: The Maxberg Archaeopteryx ” (New Scientist, February 11, 2012), Jeff Hecht reports on a missing fossil, one of only 11 roughly complete “dinobirds, found in a quarry in 1956:
Fossils have been forgotten in storerooms, pilfered from digs and sunk in shipwrecks. But none can match the charisma and mystery of the missing Maxberg Archaeopteryx. This skeleton was hoarded for years by a cantankerous quarry manager.
Palaeontologist Peter Wellnhofer, author of “Archaeopteryx: The icon of evolution” recounts that it became the object of earnest pursuit and financial finagling, then disappeared in 1991, when Opitsch died. He is believed to have stored it in his home, and would let no one see it.
It’s possible Opitsch could have sold it years before, but there is no evidence to support this, according to Wellnhofer. And although Wellnhofer describes how Opitsch was considered “a queer fellow”, no one thought he would have destroyed the fossil. Theft was possible because the house was left unattended for weeks after Opitsch’s death, but the two slabs of the fossil were heavy and unwieldy, making for a difficult getaway. Others have suggested that Opitsch hid it, or might have had it buried with him.
If the Piltdown story ever becomes a film, the lost archaeopteryx would make a great featurette.
Here’s a thought: What if the slabs were taken away by someone who was cleaning up the old loner Opitsch’s house, someone who had no idea of the fossil’s value and thought they would be nice stones for her rock garden hideaway? Half covered in ivy. Maybe a bit deteriorated now from the weather. And if she did find out, she might be so embarrassed to admit her actions that she … resolved the problem by just getting the handyman to turn the slabs over. And the secret died with her and the handyman? Just thoughts …
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