A ‘large and valuable’ Siwalik fossil collection in the archives of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History
This article describes results from a review of South Asian fossils in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. These materials include two early 19th century collections of fossils from the Siwalik Hills in India. While this assemblage was summarised in 1837 by William Buckland as ‘large an...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor and Francis
2022
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| _version_ | 1811139399360970752 |
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| author | Stimpson, CM Jukar, AM Bonea, A Newell, S Howlett, EA |
| author_facet | Stimpson, CM Jukar, AM Bonea, A Newell, S Howlett, EA |
| author_sort | Stimpson, CM |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | This article describes results from a review of South Asian fossils in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. These materials include two early 19th century collections of fossils from the Siwalik Hills in India. While this assemblage was summarised in 1837 by William Buckland as ‘large and valuable collections of fossil bones’, it has remained largely unstudied and unpublished in any detail since collection. Here, as a precursor to a comprehensive re-evaluation, we establish a chronological and geographical context of one collection event, provide details of its donor, and outline its history after arrival in Oxford. We then describe select taxa in the collection, including a well-preserved maxilla and toothrow of the large extinct giraffid, Sivatherium giganteum, as a basis to justify our current understanding of the biostratigraphic affinity of the assemblage. Conservatively, the collection is a ‘classic’ Upper Siwalik Plio-Pleistocene fauna, possibly the first to be transported to the UK. While further analyses will realise the scientific potential of the fossils, the narrative of their journey from India to Oxford remains incomplete. Further investigation of the hidden history of the collection is warranted. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T08:21:54Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:950d06ef-d1b5-43f9-a0ab-0bfc451dd6a7 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-25T04:05:28Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | Taylor and Francis |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:950d06ef-d1b5-43f9-a0ab-0bfc451dd6a72024-05-24T10:26:44ZA ‘large and valuable’ Siwalik fossil collection in the archives of the Oxford University Museum of Natural HistoryJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:950d06ef-d1b5-43f9-a0ab-0bfc451dd6a7EnglishSymplectic ElementsTaylor and Francis2022Stimpson, CMJukar, AMBonea, ANewell, SHowlett, EAThis article describes results from a review of South Asian fossils in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. These materials include two early 19th century collections of fossils from the Siwalik Hills in India. While this assemblage was summarised in 1837 by William Buckland as ‘large and valuable collections of fossil bones’, it has remained largely unstudied and unpublished in any detail since collection. Here, as a precursor to a comprehensive re-evaluation, we establish a chronological and geographical context of one collection event, provide details of its donor, and outline its history after arrival in Oxford. We then describe select taxa in the collection, including a well-preserved maxilla and toothrow of the large extinct giraffid, Sivatherium giganteum, as a basis to justify our current understanding of the biostratigraphic affinity of the assemblage. Conservatively, the collection is a ‘classic’ Upper Siwalik Plio-Pleistocene fauna, possibly the first to be transported to the UK. While further analyses will realise the scientific potential of the fossils, the narrative of their journey from India to Oxford remains incomplete. Further investigation of the hidden history of the collection is warranted. |
| spellingShingle | Stimpson, CM Jukar, AM Bonea, A Newell, S Howlett, EA A ‘large and valuable’ Siwalik fossil collection in the archives of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History |
| title | A ‘large and valuable’ Siwalik fossil collection in the archives of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History |
| title_full | A ‘large and valuable’ Siwalik fossil collection in the archives of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History |
| title_fullStr | A ‘large and valuable’ Siwalik fossil collection in the archives of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History |
| title_full_unstemmed | A ‘large and valuable’ Siwalik fossil collection in the archives of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History |
| title_short | A ‘large and valuable’ Siwalik fossil collection in the archives of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History |
| title_sort | large and valuable siwalik fossil collection in the archives of the oxford university museum of natural history |
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