Messel pit

Messel Pit Fossil Site

UNESCO World Heritage Site
Location	Darmstadt-Dieburg, Hesse, Germany
Criteria	Natural: (viii)
Reference	720bis
Inscription	1995 (19th Session)
Extensions	2010
Area	42 ha (4,500,000 sq ft)
Buffer zone	22.5 ha (2,420,000 sq ft)
Coordinates	49°55′03″N 8°45′24″E / 49.9175°N 8.7567°E / 49.9175; 8.7567
Location of Messel pit in Hesse Show map of Hesse Messel pit (Germany) Show map of Germany

The Messel Pit (German: Grube Messel) is a disused quarry near the village of Messel, Hesse. The site about 35 km southeast of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is a site where fine fossils are preserved: a lagerstätte. The site is very important: it includes fossils of early mammals, including early primates. Because of its fossils, the site has significant geological and scientific importance.

Bituminous shale was mined there.^[1] After almost becoming a landfill, strong local resistance eventually stopped those plans. The Messel pit was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. It was placed on the list solely due to fossils.^[2][3]

Amateur collectors developed a "transfer technique" to preserve the fine details of small fossils, the method still used to preserve the fossils today.^[4] Many of the known specimens from the site have come from amateur collectors, and in 1996, an amnesty on previously collected fossils was put in effect, in the hope of getting privately owned collections back into public ownership and available to science.

1. ↑ Bitumenous: shale with coal, clay and oil.
2. ↑ "UNESCO's World Heritage site".
3. ↑ Mayer E. 1994. Nomination of Messel Pit for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Hessian Minister of State for Science and Arts, Messel.
4. ↑ "Messel pit". Archived from the original on 2013-02-07.