Fossils are more than just geological curiosities. Since prehistoric times, these remains of living beings preserved within the rocks of the earth's crust have been the subject of various beliefs, legends and superstitions, which have until now been largely overlooked by research in France. Paleontologist Éric Buffetaut, an emeritus director of research at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), aimed to address this by compiling the scattered traces of these myths in his latest book, Fossiles et Croyances Populaires. Une Paléontologie de l'Imaginaire ("Fossils and Popular Beliefs: A Paleontology of the Imaginary").
As a paleontologist, I specialize in vertebrates, and more specifically in dinosaurs and extinct birds. But I've always been interested in popular beliefs, out of curiosity. When I discovered that myths and legends were linked to fossils, it seemed natural to combine my scientific discipline with this personal interest.
This project also aligned with a desire to fill a gap specific to France, distinct from Germany, the UK and Central Europe, where there are many books on the subject. In particular, two paleontologists warrant mention: the Austrian specialist Othenio Abel (1875-1946), who published several landmark works in the 1920s and 1930s, and the English paleontologist Kenneth Oakley (1911-1981), who was particularly interested in the symbolic and decorative uses of fossils.
Maybe this lack stems from our deeply rooted rationalism, which tends to regard these beliefs as fairy tales. In any case, there are only a few scientific articles, based on the work of paleontologists, archaeologists and folklorists. I have compiled these scattered sources to put together this book, which is the first one to attempt to provide a comprehensive overview of French cases. Beliefs linked to fossils are particularly prominent in the Alps and Normandy, two regions abundant in this subject matter.
It cannot be pinpointed exactly when popular beliefs associated with fossils were forged, but it is thought they have attracted human attention as far back as the Palaeolithic period (starting around 3 million years ago and ending 10,000 to 12,000 years ago). Even Neanderthals collected and gathered them: Petrified gastropods and corals have been found in caves' archaeological layers dating back over 35,000 years.
Fossils have become the foundations of a wide variety of beliefs, and it's intriguing to note that these can be found all over the world. For example, healing fossils are found in China, Europe and South America. This gives rise to two hypotheses: Do these beliefs have roots in a shared ancestral origin, or are we witnessing a convergence phenomenon similar to what occurs in the evolution of living organisms?
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