The study, published in the Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, is led by Marco Colombo and his supervisor Prof. Wolfgang Ensinger from the Institute of Materials Science, Materials Analysis Department, in collaboration with paleontologists Dr Valentina Rossi and Dr Thomas Lehmann, from University College Cork and Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt, respectively.

Mr. Colombo explains, “A big challenge to study cultural heritage objects, from historical artifacts to fossils, relates to their unique and often fragile nature. As scientists, we strive to use and/or develop sophisticated non-destructive approaches to study such objects”.

Dr. Lehmann: “Messel is a world-famous fossiliferous site, where animals are exceptionally preserved, including their skin, fur, feathers, eyes and internal organs. These unique 47 million years old fossils need special care before being housed in museum collections: some, especially the larger ones, are transferred from the sediment to a resin plate, and others are kept in water or glycerin”.

The team used a powerful X-ray fluorescence spectrometer that has been acquired in the framework of a collaboration between the Technical University of Darmstadt and the Städel Museum, the Goethe University, as well as the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt, with the financial support of the Dr. Rolf M. Schwiete Foundation. Such instruments are widely used to scan historical paintings, enabling among other the discovery of preliminary sketches, artistic techniques or even forgeries. “Large and heavy fossils and those conserved in water or glycerin are difficult to study without removing the soft tissues from the specimens (i.e., destructive sampling). The use of large X-ray machines allows us to analyze these fossils safely, by positioning them on a table and scanning their chemical composition”, explains Mr. Colombo “Material analysis not only serves to characterize high-tech materials currently under development, but also provides valuable clues for understanding the evolution of life on Earth” says Prof. Ensinger.

The team discovered striking chemical signals associated with fur, feathers and internal organs in nearly all of the analyzed fossils. This also demonstrates that all conservation methods used on the Messel fossils so far enable the preservation of their chemical composition.