Paleontología Mexicana

1. Introduction

Fossils are all tangible evidence of life in the geological past. They reveal the geological and biological history of the Earth through time. Paleontology is the study of life in the geological past through fossils and their context (Prado, 2009; Abarzúa and Chávez, 2020).

Fossils and paleontological deposits result from biological and geological processes, being elements that form the geological environment and correspond to the natural heritage (Díaz et al., 2016). However, fossils and paleontological deposits also constitute heritage assets because they provide a value of social interest that can be scientific, cultural, or educational (Morales et al., 2002; Prado, 2009; Morales, 2019). UNESCO’s Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property of 1970 recognized the objects of paleontological interest as cultural assets.

From this concept, fossils and paleontological deposits are objects of study and elements that form the national heritage that needs preservation and protection. However, although international work has been done for some years in protecting paleontological heritage, the existing legal framework has complicated to implement (Table 1) (see Guerrero-Arenas et al., on this issue).

Mexico is no exception to this situation, considering the "Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia" (INAH for your Spanish acronym) —as the institution designated by law to protect and conservation paleontological heritage in the Mexican territory— begins in 1994 to generate the mechanisms to fulfill this mission. One of these mechanisms was the creation of the Council of Paleontology. This work aims to show the reason and purpose of creating the Council of Paleontology of INAH, the stages in which it has been working, the first from 1994 to 2000, and its reactivation in 2017. In addition, the different perspectives that each Council has had and the proposed solutions to the particular problems that each of them has faced.

2. INAH and the protection and conservation of the Mexican paleontological heritage

Mexico has a territorial extension of 5,120,679 km2, including the continental and marine surface. Its geographical and geological formation has been complicated, which has resulted in diverse natural landscapes, including a great richness and abundance of flora and fauna diversity. Concerning its fossil record, there is also a wide biological and temporal diversity, which spanned from the Precambrian to the Pleistocene (ca. 560 million years – 10,000 years) (Arroyo-Cabrales et al., 2008; Aguilar, 2017).

In the Mexican legal framework, fossils are part of the assets of their national heritage by the law named "Ley General de Bienes Nacionales" [General Law on National Assets] (Article 6 section XVIII):

“The movables assets of the Federation which by their nature are not normally replaceable, such as paleontological pieces, are subject to the regime of public domain”.

In 1939, the INAH was created and designated as the federal government agency responsible for researching, preserving, and disseminating archaeological, anthropological, and historical heritage in Mexico (Olivé, 2003). In 1985 the Organic Law of the INAH had a series of reforms. One of these reforms included Article 2, where the INAH had competence from paleontological heritage.

Another important reform in legal protection of fossils in Mexico was in the law called "Ley Federal de Monumentos y Zonas Arqueológicos, Artísticos e Históricos" by adding the Article 28 BIS:

“For the effects of this Law and its Regulations, the provisions regarding archeological monuments and zones shall apply to the fossil vestiges or remains of organic beings that inhabited our national territory in past epochs and whose research, conservation, restoration, recovery or utilization are of paleontological interest, the circumstance that must be specified in the respective declaration that the President of the Republic shall issue”.

The "Diario Oficial de la Federación", on January 13, 1986, published the reforms to the laws (Olivé, 2003). Whit which the INAH is the federal government's regulatory agency that protects the Mexican paleontological heritage (García-Bárcena, 1993). Its Organic Law established that: "The Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia shall have the general goals of to protect, to preserve, to restore and to recover the paleontological heritage”.

In this way, INAH begins its mission of protecting paleontological heritage. The Department of Prehistory (currently known as the "Subdirección de Laboratorios y Apoyo Académico") was responsible for attending the inspections and the actions to recover and study the fossils, as part of the reports of fortuitous fossil finds. The authorization of national research projects and for foreign researchers, as well as permissions for the temporary export of paleontological materials, were under the responsibility of engineer Joaquín García Bárcena, Head of Pre-Hispanic Monuments, in collaboration with the "Dirección de Asuntos Jurídicos y Laborales" (Dirección de Monumentos Prehispánicos, 1986).

However, it was necessary to establish the actions to comply with the newly assigned entrustment, and for this reason in 1994, INAH General Directorate created the Council of Paleontology, a consultative-chartered organ that aimed to advise the same directorate in paleontological issues (Consejo de Paleontología, 1994).

A collaboration with the institutions that conducted paleontology projects was essential to establish in the short term. The formation of the Council included by different institutions. An invitation was sent to each institution's rectories through INAH General Directorate to appoint their representatives (Table 2).

The inaugural session was on May 24, 1994, in the facilities of the INAH General Directorate, located at this time at Córdoba No. 45, Colonia Roma, Mexico City. Although it was established in the Council regulations that sessions would be held monthly, they were held once a week to fulfill the entrusted project (Consejo de Paleontología, 1994).

The main topics worked by the first Council were the proposal of definitions and a one recommendation for fossil categorization (e.g. essential, extraordinary and common fossils), paleontological monuments, classification of paleontological collections (e.g. scientific collection, non-scientific collection, educative collection), locality and paleontological area. In addition, proposals for the registration of localities and paleontological collections were developed (Consejo de Paleontología, 1994).

At the same time, the Council worked on the draft of the "Disposiciones Reglamentarias para la aplicación del artículo 28 BIS", concerning the paleontological heritage of the "Ley Federal de Monumentos y Zonas Arqueológicos, Artísticos e Históricos" This because of the considerable differences that existed between archaeological and paleontological heritage. It was not possible to apply the later normativity developed to the former and it was necessary the development of the normativity for paleontological heritage, according to its specific characteristics (García-Bárcena et al., 1995).

In order to have a pertinent proposal with the needs of national paleontology, a first draft was presented at the Fifth National Congress of Paleontology of the Mexican Society of Paleontology in 1995, in order to receive contributions from the academic community (Consejo de Paleontología, 1994; García-Bárcena et al., 1995). This project represented the basis for the generation of the documented named "Ley sobre vestigios y restos fósiles" [Law on Vestiges and Fossil Remains], presented for review to the Senate of the Republic, LVII Legislature of the Mexican Congress (Diario de los Debates de la Cámara de Senadores, 1998; Carreño and Montellano-Ballesteros, 2005).

Other developed activities included a review of research projects and the issuance of temporary export permissions. The last session of this first Council was on March 15, 2000, and there is no information on why they stopped its activity.

From 2000 to 2010, Joaquín García Bárcena, the then president of the Council of Paleontology, was in charge of the matters related to paleontological heritage, such as reviewing research projects and the issuance of temporary export permissions (Aguilar Arellano, 2019). In 2011, in the absence of Joaquín García Bárcena, different areas of INAH were in charge of the Council duties, depending on the topic. The "Consejo de Arqueología" reviewed research projects and temporary export permissions, and the registration of collections and localities by the "Dirección de Registro Público de Monumentos y Zonas Arqueológicos e Históricos" (Aguilar Arellano, 2019).

In the time where the first Council proposed of a several policies, the INAH administration continued to consider fossils like non-renewable natural resources and non-related to cultural heritage, so these should not be within the institute. Hence, its management was not a responsibility of INAH (Amador, 2004).

3. Reactivation of the Council of Paleontology of INAH

The Mexican paleontological heritage has always been in a very complicated situation due to the loss of paleontological deposits related to economic and urban activity, looting, and illicit trafficking. In addition, ethics lack in the recovery and investigation, loss of fossil specimens in collections, and insufficient budget for some institutions, focused on creating and maintaining scientific collections (Aguilar Arellano, 2019; Abarzúa and Chávez, 2020), foment these current problems. For these reasons, it is essential to regulate paleontological activities.

Consequently, in 2011, the reactivation of the Council of Paleontology was considered the collaboration of representatives specialized in this discipline from different institutions, to develop and establish the applicable regulatory framework of the Article 28 BIS, and the administrative and legal procedures are leading to protect and safeguard Mexican paleontological heritage (Aguilar Arellano, 2019)

In March 2017, the director of INAH issued "Acuerdo de Creación del Consejo de Paleontología", and in May, is installed this chartered organ. The Council's principal role is to recommend to the INAH General Directorate about research, preservation, protection, science outreach, and management of paleontological vestiges and remains located in the national territory (INAH, 2017a).

The current Council of Paleontology (ConPal for its initials in Spanish, "Consejo de Paleontología") consists of a president, a secretary, twelve regular members, and twelve alternates (Table 3, Figure 1). The General Director is in charge of the president and regular members appointments. Regular members are the representatives designated by each institution's rectories (as in the previous Council); they received an INAH General Directorate invitation. Each regular member proposed its alternate, which is ratified in a plenary session of the Council; alternates have the same rights and obligations as those regulars (INAH, 2017a).

The ConPal celebrated its first session in May 2017 (INAH, 2017b), followed by bimonthly sessions and successive monthly sessions, working uninterruptedly for three years. During the first work period, its main priority was developing proposals for guidelines that allow applying current regulations and the definition of paleontological interest (Table 4). These documents are the result of collaboration with national and international specialists in the knowledge field. They are currently in the revision process to comply with the current provisions regarding regulatory documents for their future approval and application. Their definitive names and quantity may change according to the possible comments and adjustments they receive.

4. The Council of Paleontology of INAH, period 2017–2020

The principal role of the ConPal is to advise and provide support in decision-making to INAH General Directorate. To propose and contribute to other federal government agencies related to other uses that directly or indirectly involve fossils, taking as a basis the criteria to establish the paleontological interest of the fossil relics or remains of organic beings that inhabited the national territory in past epochs.

Although the creation of the ConPal sought to minimize the loss of paleontological assets by preparing proposals for regulations to apply the current legal framework, there are differences between the first stage of the Council and its reactivation. From 1994 to 2000, the Council analyzed and discussed with the academic community (professors and researchers), paleontology amateurs, and even museum associations that exhibited fossils (Consejo de Paleontología, 1994). The proposals were only drafts without executed, as far as there is a record. The only procedure carried out to date was the issuance of temporary export permissions of fossils.

Otherwise, in this new stage, the ConPal carries out the research and preservation projects evaluations for movable and immovable paleontological assets, including their corresponding results reports; therefore, it is necessary to generate operational guidelines based on the current legal framework.

The evaluation guarantees that projects will be viable for their development if the proposed academic staff have experience in the research topic. The proposed recovery and restoration techniques are appropriate, and the proper safeguarding of paleontological specimens in a deposit site (Figure 2, Table 5). The ConPal to facilitate the proposals and submit their reports, a guide was elaborated ("Guía de requisitos mínimos para la presentación de informes y/o proyectos ante el ConPal"). Regular and alternate members check the revisions to each approach, as well as external evaluators, specialized in different taxonomic groups and applied aspects such as paleobiology, petrology, stratigraphy, paleoecology, paleoclimatology, geomorphology, sedimentology, paleobiogeography, isotopic geochemistry, among other areas.

The research process and science outreach activities involve the temporary movement of paleontological material from one institution to another, both nationally and internationally, activities that regulated by law (Articles 29, 49 and 53 of the "Ley Federal de Monumentos y Zonas Arqueológicos, Artísticos e Históricos" and Article 37 bis sections I, II and III of its Regulations). In accordance with the current legal framework, a guide was prepared ("Guía para el traslado de bienes paleontológicos y de exportación de bienes paleontológicos"), contributing with the "Coordinación Nacional de Asuntos Jurídicos" the instance in charge of issuing the corresponding permissions.

The ConPal has established partnerships with the different areas of INAH with the aim of exchanging, helping and strengthening inter-agency relations through different activities. Several activities were coordinated with the "Dirección de Registro Público de Monumentos y Zonas Arqueológicos, Artísticos e Históricos". Like the validation of the parameters considered for the movable and immovable paleontological properties of the "Sistema Único de Registro Público de Monumentos y Zonas Arqueológicos e Históricos" (https://registropublico.inah.gob.mx/index.php/autenticacion/autenticacion).

The ConPal reviewed and approved of the "Cédula para identificar y catalogar localidades paleontológicas". The paleontological information of the cards submitted by people in charge of research projects for registration is revised with the agreement of the "Subdirección de Registro Público de Monumentos Arqueológicos Inmuebles". Finally, the Council supports the registration of collections (movable assets) in the custody of academic institutions or individuals. Furthermore, when other areas of the Institute requested a collaboration, the ConPal participated in paleontological inspections, a task that has increased in the last two years (Figure 2).

The type of investigations that involve both movable and immovable paleontological assets can be diverse and include different disciplines. The analysis for each projects considering the point of view and according to the specialty. The ConPal review together with INAH advisory councils of each area, in the case of archaeological-paleontological investigations, it is reviewed jointly with the "Consejo de Arqueología". At the same time, if restoration-conservation activities, it is reviewed with the "Consejo de Conservación-restauración de monumentos muebles y muebles asociados a inmuebles competencia del INAH".

5. Identity, academic and science outreach events

The ConPal has an imagotype, created to promote and recognize its presence in the different activities carried out individually or in collaboration. It consists of four different fossils from the Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic eras. These fossils represent the paleontological diversity in our country and the heterogeneity of specialties and taxonomic groups investigated by the members of the ConPal (Figure 3). Since August 2019, the microsite www.consejopaleontologia.inah.gob.mx is available. It aims to inform the academic community, students and interested people on regulations, the movable and immovable paleontological heritage procedures, the calendar of ConPal regular meetings, and science outreach events.

Regarding dissemination and popularization of Paleontology, the ConPal considers that dialogue with the academic community and the society is essential. As a result, different proposals for participation in academic events have been generated to show the proposed regulations' work and progress and enrich them (Table 6). The science outreach events promote knowledge of paleobiodiversity, as well as meaning that society recognizes the value of fossils not only as a source of information about the past but also as identity promoters by being part of the local cultural and natural local heritage (Aguilar and Polaco, 2005) (Table 7).

Considering that paleontological assets have a double meaning, the ConPal has established guidelines to make known, understanding, evaluating, and acting on it as a source of research and heritage. To propose the most appropriate and inclusive normative procedures to the real and current conditions of paleontological research, and must be based on the results of success or failure. It has been crucial to encourage knowledge of heritage at the social level. Hence, the importance of opening for exhibitions and conferences open to the public.

6. Conclusions

The panorama for the management of paleontological heritage in Mexico remains complex. Although it is equated with the archaeological heritage in the legal framework, we recognized that the only point in common is that both are underground. However, the methods for their exploration, recovery, and analysis are different due to the particular characteristics of the fossils, taking into account the great paleobiodiversity and time scale that makes it up, so it is necessary to establish fair rules for their management.

It is essential to incentivize (in the academic community and society) the importance of recognizing fossils as heritage and not conceiving them only as objects of study or the environment's components. Therefore, the development of science outreach activities in open forums and academic events is essential besides knowing and understanding the value of fossils and paleontological deposits to create a commitment to preserve and protect our heritage.

It is essential to strengthening inter-institutional relations between paleontological research centers and INAH. It is also crucial the participation of scientists by registering their projects, to know who are the main actors researching in the country, and that the conditions of in situ extraction, restoration, and safeguarding or preservation, as the case may be, are the most suitable for the safeguarding of paleontological assets. The registry of collections and paleontological sites is essential. To establish adequate protection, the ConPal must know the type of paleontological heritage and its state of conservation. In this way, it will be possible to minimize the looting, illicit trafficking, or loss of fossils extracted in national territory, by amateurs or by personnel outside Mexican academic institutions. The damage and loss of fossils are irreversible and represents a double loss: the subject of study and an element of national heritage.

It is important to emphasize that the presence of the Council of Paleontology in INAH must be permanent and that development, in both research and management of paleontological heritage, is an area that must be strengthened inside the same institute. We suggest that it should have an operational area within its organization chart in addition to having the Council. The necessary tools are also provided to comply with the assigned entrust, not to mention the various problems the federal government faces, including budget cuts and some other shortcomings that sometimes become more aggressive.

The ConPal aims to maintain and adapt based on the needs of the paleontological heritage. The work lines focused on the academic community and society, with the certainty that the recognition of fossils and their deposits will be part of Mexico's cultural and natural heritage over time.

Acknowledgments

The protection and conservation of paleontological heritage is the sum of the wills of both the academic community and the public administration. We thank each of the people who promoted and created the Council of Paleontology of INAH.

We also thank those who supported us in reviewing the historical archives that allowed us to present the history of creation and the main activities carried out by the first Council of Paleontology.

The information shown in this work is the product of different stages; we thank Guillermo Oñate and Gloria Tapia for their support in each one. The informal reading of the other versions in English by Belén Chávez and Gloria Tapia helped adapt them. We thank the reviewers for their comments and clarifications that helped improve the article: Dr. Rosalía Guerrero Arenas and Dr. Victor M. Bravo Cuevas. We acknowledge the support provided to obtain the photograph of figure 1 to Lic. Ulises Leyva, Directorate of Communication of INAH, and the map of figure 2 to the MSc. Gloria Tapia. Finally, we thank Dr. Josep Moreno, editor-in-chief, Dr. Eduardo Corona, editor-invited of "Paleontología Mexicana" to support this article's review, two anonymous reviewers who helped improve the paper with their observations and comments.

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Manuscrito recibido: Julio 20, 2020.

Manuscrito corregido recibido: Diciembre 6, 2020.

Manuscrito aceptado: Diciembre 7, 2020.

Table 1. The concept of paleontological heritage in different nations.

Table 2. Members of the Council of Paleontology during the period 1994-2000.

Figure 1. The Council of Paleontology on the first anniversary of its reinstatement. In the background, from left to right: Dr. Victor M. Bravo Cuevas (UAEH), Dr. Eduardo Corona Martínez (Centro INAH Morelos), Dr. Joaquín Arroyo Cabrales (SLAA-INAH), Dr. José Ortega Ramírez, alternate member (SLAA-INAH), MsC. Guillermo Alvarado Valdez (UASLP), Antrop. Diego Prieto Hernández (Director General of INAH), MsC. Gerardo F. Carbot Chanona (Secretariat of the Environment of the State of Chiapas), Dr. Marcelo Aguilar Piña (IMP). Front, from left to right: Dra. Elena Centeno García (UNAM), Dra. Rosalía Guerrero Arenas (UMAR), Dra. Ma. Luisa García Zepeda (UMSNH), MsC. Felisa J. Aguilar Arellano (Centro INAH Coahuila), MsC. Cristina Corona Jamaica (Paleontology Subdirectorate, CNA-INAH), Dra. Angélica Oviedo García (UACH), Dra. Blanca E. Buitrón Sánchez (SOMEXPAL), May 25, 2018 (photo: Héctor Montaño, INAH).

Table 3. Regular and alternate members of the Council of Paleontology (2017-to the Present).

Table 4. The proposals for Guidelines generated in the Council, these documents have been given priority as the regulatory framework associated with the implementation of existing legislation on the protection and conservation of paleontological heritage.

Table 5. INAH departments and academic institutions with current projects related to the study or conservation of fossils or paleontological sites.

Note: It is essential to highlight the participation of the different areas of the National Institute of Anthropology and History to register their projects and have the approval of the Council of Paleontology. Some other academic entities are also participating; however, there is still little participation.

Figure 2. The states of the Mexican Republic are shown where research activities authorized by the Council of Paleontology are carried out, are shown, and the states where inspections have collaborated.

Table 6. Academic events in which ConPal has participated.

Table 7. Science outreach events organized by ConPal or in collaboration with other institutions.

Figure 3. Imagotype of the Council of Paleontology of INAH includes an ammonite, a fern, a foraminifera and a fish, elaborated by Norma Lara Barajas, ConPal staff.