Re: Skull in Boulder images

Ed Conrad (edconrad@prolog.net)
14 Nov 1996 06:38:17 GMT

"henry l. barwood" <hbarwood@indiana.edu> wrote:

>Ed Conrad wrote:

>> Not once -- ever -- did I state anywhere at any time that the
>> specimens of petrified human bone and soft organs were ``found in
>> anthracite coal."
>> I have stated time after time that they were found in the shale (or
>> slate) between anthracite seams.
>>

>Well, Conrad caught me in a huge conspiratorial lie! I did confuse his
>constant rants about "Carboniferous human/hominind fossils" and his
>"anthracite coal" posts and for this I most humbly apologise to Mr.Ed.
>Your skull-shaped concretion did not come out of the anthracite coal, but
>from the shale between coal seams.

You're right AND you're wrong, Henry!
You've finally got it right that the specimen was removed from between
two anthracite veins, not from the coal itself.
And you're dead wrong when calling it a ``skull-shaped concretion"
when its actually a petrified human skull, much as you tend to
disagree.
Granules removed from various areas of the skull-like protrusion
have revealed, during microscopic examination, the presence of
Haversian canals (the distinguishing difference between my petrified
bones and your concretions).
In any event, I accept your apology for admitting that you were wrong
about where the specimen came from.
Meanwhile, be prepared to write another apology -- perhaps sooner than
you think -- for recklessly and callously calling The World's Most
Important Fossil a rock.