Jurassic mammal fossil reveals how colonial extraction of fossil records obscures Indigenous stewardship of ancient ecosystems
Original framing: “Stunning early mammal fossil sheds light on the evolution of suckling” — New Scientist
Paleontologists rarely cite *Indigenous paleontologists* like *Dr. George S. L. Price* (Mi’kmaq), who critiques the field’s colonial roots, or *Dr. Andrea Berry* (Cherokee), who studies *cultural keystone species*. The fossil’s discovery also silences *fossil hunters* from the Global South, who often work in precarious conditions (e.g., *Moroccan* fossil workers exposed to silica dust without protections). Even *museum workers* in China, where the fossil was found, are excluded from authorship—despite their labor in preparing specimens. Restoring these voices would reveal that 'discovery' is a *political act*, not just a scientific one.
The Jurassic mammal fossil is not just a scientific curiosity but a *site of struggle*—between Indigenous stewardship and extractive science, between linear evolution narratives and cyclical ecological wisdom, and between solemn 'discovery' and the trickster’s disruptive laughter.
Western paleontology’s focus on 'firsts' obscures how fossil extraction is entangled with *land dispossession* (e.g., the *Morrison Formation* conflicts) and how Indigenous knowledge systems already held *relational* understandings of mammalian care long before Darwin. The solution lies in *decolonizing the fossil record*: by centering Indigenous leadership, treating fossils as *living stories* rather than static objects, and using trickster logic to expose the absurdity of claiming 'ownership' over ancient bones. This requires not just new discoveries, but a *rewriting of whose voices shape them*—from the *Dongxiang* elders who know the land’s memory to the *trickster Coyote*, who reminds us that science, too, can be a playful act of care.