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Chapter ???

Before April 1st becomes April 2nd, and in the spirit of #BeautifulCorpses , I wanted to present to you a fine example of #NotFakeScience #AprilFools !

Folks, meet what once was considered a very early member of the Homo genus: Homo diluvii testis !

Yeah, so... It’s known now to have been a giant Miocene salamander, dubbed Andrias scheuchzeri. An early representative of the species including the Chinese giant water salamander, amongst others.

But when it was first uncovered in 1726, Swiss physician Johann Jakob Scheuchzer believed a man looked at him from the rock - its name literally translated to “Man, witness of the Deluge”.

Perhaps it could be compared to the Piltdown Man in England, in that it took a lot longer than what’d be normal for someone to call bullshit - 32 YEARS. That’s like an entire generation of people figuring that this was a person.

From there, it flip-flopped from consideration as a catfish, a lizard, and finally a salamander - but never again a man. And thank God, honestly.

Some have claimed that, given the fragmentary appearance of the fossil, it could’ve been mistaken for a VERY destroyed human skeleton... though I wonder how much Mr. Scheuchzer might’ve been kidding, or at least not been serious...

I mean the guy was a DOCTOR

The lack of serious thought might’ve been endemic to the science at the time. For another example of this, we can point to the first dinosaur fossil ever discovered and described in Western science, Scrotum humanum.

(to whit: this was a piece of a leg bone of Megalosaurus, the first dinosaur described as such in the science. In a world where the first name managed to stay...)

I’ll close with this incredible interpretation by C. M. Koseman for “All Yesterdays”, of what a humanoid with A. scheuchzeri’s proportions would’ve *really* looked like...

Happy #AprilFoolsDay everybody!!! Hope you enjoyed this brief #NotFakeScience adventure

Beautiful Corpses:

Beginning/Intermission

It’s Friday the 13th, the first one of the year, 233 days till Halloween, that best of nights. It was about 132 days ago when I first began this, and soon it will be time to finish it.

Welcome to #BeautifulCorpses . Let me introduce myself.

My name is Thomas Rohrer. You may or may not know my usual tumblr @lusciouslusus , but lately I’ve been forgoing that for Twitter. There, I’ve been trying to blend my usual posting content (or liking content, more like) with a greater venture: science communication.

In my pursuit of higher education in anthropology and human evolution, I’ve been struck with the want to show the rest of the world why I find t so fascinating, and what unique stories can be told through this greater human condition.

Last year, I was inspired by taphonomy, the study of how fossils get to be how they are. In looking over some of the more famous fossils we have, I was struck with how tragic, even terrifying, many of them are. Drowned, buried, torn to pieces... these were once, more or less, people with their own stories to tell. At one point, they would’ve been a grisly sight.

So, I wrote a series of short pieces for the month of October, though late in that month. Remembering an old quote - “live fast, die young, and leave behind a beautiful corpse” -, I titled it as such you see here. I wrote 6 pieces, as Twitter threads, each highlighting a different individual- some known across the world, others whose stories aren’t as well-known but deserve to be told.

Each of these were posted in the days leading up to Halloween. I researched well, and posted each at midnight - the legendarily frightening hour. I don’t know if anybody noticed these posts. I have some learning to do about how to engage with social media, for maximum exposure.

But, all is not lost. It’s a project I knew I would want to return to. And, I’m returning to it this year, bigger, more ambitious...

That was #BeautifulCorpses2019 . This year, I’ll welcome you to #BeautifulCorpses2020 .

For all 31 days of October, I have planned to highlight a different fossil specimen, and give their story as one might give the victim of an awful crime. Some of these, in fact, have been, which we’ll see as we move forward. Many simply died quietly - but their stories will be told.

At the same time, I’ll be posting a fuller blog version to this blog. I’ll do my best to connect them, and perhaps put more information on this blog too - especially sources. Course, why would I be writing this now in March?

Luckily for all of you, I’ve archived #BeautifulCorpses2019 , and I’ll release it on here! This will give this part of the internet a small taste of what I intend to bring later this year, and perhaps I can better piece together the project as a whole.

Feel free to explore, to speculate, to enjoy. And brace yourselves. #BeautifulCorpses2020 is sure to delight. And, with hope, you’ll see these fossils and many like them as the #BeautifulCorpses they truly are.