Japanese museums' purchases create controversy

Jeff Poling

Japanese museums have become wary of purchasing Chinese fossils, instituting policies to help prevent illegal exports from China. The issue arose following a series of incidents in 1998 that raised questions about possible violations of Chinese law banning the export of fossils.

The fossils that brought the issue to the forefront are those of Confuciusornis, a small enantiornithine bird that is the earliest beaked bird known. The fossils were discovered in Liaoning, a spectacular fossil site that produced the earliest neornithine bird known, Liaoningornis, and the feathered non-avian dinosaurs Sinosauropteryx, Caudipteryx, Protarchaeopteryx, and possibly a new, yet-to-be-announced feathered non-avian dinosaur. The site is generally considered to be Early Cretaceous in age.

Six public museums in Japan own specimens of Confuciusornis. Export of fossils without government permission is illegal in China, and the museums' acquisitions raised many questions. In early June, the Japanese Education Ministry, which has jurisdiction of public museums, began investigating how the museums had secured their specimens.

The museums insist that they purchased their specimens legitimately from Chinese fossils dealers. However, the museums could not produce the necessary Chinese government export permission documents. The purchases did not violate any Japanese law. Citing ethical considerations, museums nonetheless withdrew the specimens from display.

Yoshikazu Hasegawa, director of the Gunma Museum of Natural History, said museums ''know they have to be more careful than ever to make sure that their purchases are legal.''

Early in October, the Tottori Prefectural Museum put their specimens back on display. This followed the announcement by the Education Ministry announced it found no problem with the actual acquisition of the fossils, and would leave the decision on whether to actually specimens up to each individual museum.

Hiromichi Tanaka, an official at the Tottori museum, said it was a pity that the fossils had to be temporarily removed from display. "We initially just didn't have enough information on China's domestic laws and on the export routes of the fossils,'' he said.

The museum bought the two fossils from a Tokyo fossil dealer in April for 1.2 million yen and 800,000 yen apiece. Hasegawa said that it is very rare for Chinese fossils to have official government export permission documents, and it is nearly impossible for museums to find out whether they fossils they buy from dealers are banned from export.

''All they can really do is trust the fossil dealer. And the dealers are not willing to reveal how the fossils made the way into the country, because having their own secret routes is part of the competition,'' Hasegawa said.

Increased apprehension among museums about accidentally making illegal purchases might shift dealers to the private collector market, Hasegawa said. ''It might become more difficult for museums to get hold of fossils as more fossils exchange hands on the black market."

Makoto Manabe, curator of fossil reptiles and birds at the National Science Museum, said that to prevent further incidents he wants "a system whereby Japanese Museums can borrow or buy fossils from, or exchange fossils with, China to promote joint studies."

Others feel that Chinese authorities should draw up a list of which fossils cannot be export, so that they "would then be able to avoid a lot of trouble."

There are currently no global standards for the export and sale of fossils, with each country establishing its own laws.

At the September meeting of the Geological Society of Japan, participants agreed to set up a network among museums to check the laws of countries from which fossils are purchased. ''It is impossible for one museum to check on the laws of each country,'' one participant said.