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Anthropoid Origins pp 99–122Cite as

The Messel Primates and Anthropoid Origins

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Part of the book series: Advances in Primatology ((AIPR))

Abstract

The fossil site of Grube Messel is situated about 25 miles southeast of Frankfurt am Main (Germany). Dating from the early middle Eocene, Messel is famous for its preservation of generally complete and articulated skeletons of mammals and other vertebrates, sometimes even including soft body contours and gut contents (Schaal and Ziegler, 1992). During Eocene times carcasses of the animals would float into a freshwater lake and be deposited within clay-ish sediments on its bottom. Ehe cadavers did not ascend to the surface again because decompositional inflation was prevented by hydrostatic pressures exceeding 10 psi (Elder, 1985). This corresponds to a lake depth over 10 m. Eocene Eake Messel was meromictic (Goth, 1990). Thus, still-water conditions, lack of oxygen and benthonic scavengers, and the metabolism of decomposing anaerobic bacteria near the bottom resulted in an extraordinary quality of preservation (Franzen, 1985, 1990).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, D-60325, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Jens Lorenz Franzen

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  1. Jens Lorenz Franzen
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York, USA

    John G. Fleagle

  2. Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA

    Richard F. Kay

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© 1994 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Franzen, J.L. (1994). The Messel Primates and Anthropoid Origins. In: Fleagle, J.G., Kay, R.F. (eds) Anthropoid Origins. Advances in Primatology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9197-6_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9197-6_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-9199-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-9197-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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