U.S. Returns Smuggled Fossils to China

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 ◆ U.S. Returns Smuggled Fossils to China

The United States government has returned 14 tons of fossils, which were smuggled to the U.S. last year.

The fossils, in 93 containers, were placed in Beijing Museum of Natural Sciences recently, said sources with the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

Among the items, the most precious is a well-preserved five-meter fossil of an ichthyosaur, unique to southwest China's Guizhou Province.

Crinoids make up a large part of the returned fossils which also include those of 10 Guizhou dragons, as well as tooth fossils of a small number of ancient mammals and fish.

According to experts, these fossils were found in Guizhou Province. The Guizhou ichthyosaur, Guizhou dragon and crinoids existed in seas during the Triassic Period of the Mesozoic Era, around 225 million years ago.

The Guizhou ichthyosaur and Guizhou dragon were believed to have disappeared in the late Mesozoic Era, while crinoids were invertebrates that lived 200 to 300 meters beneath the sea.

Ai Chunchu, curator of Beijing Museum of Natural Sciences, said these fossils could not be reproduced and were of great value for scientific research, education and viewing.

The museum would create a display of all its crinoid fossils, said the curator.

The fossils were seized by customs officers of San Diego, California. The U.S. decided to return the smuggled fossils in accordance with agreements with China after confirming their country of origin.