FOSSIL OF DINOSAUR - GOMPHOTHERES - VALMIKI'S FOSSIL

 

 

Fossil of Dinosaur - Gomphotheres - Valmiki's Fossil

    

A fossil, remnant, impression, or trace of an animal or plant of a past geologic age that has been preserved in Earth’s crust. The complex of data recorded in fossils worldwide—known as the fossil record—is the primary source of information about the history of life on Earth.

Fossil fuels include coal, petroleum (oil), natural gas, oil shales, bitumens, tar sands and heavy oils.



In some places, such as the Grand Canyon in northern Arizona, one can observe a great thickness of nearly horizontal strata representing the deposition of sediment on the seafloor over many hundreds of millions of years. It is often apparent that each layer in such a sequence contains fossils that are distinct from those of the layers that are above and below it. In such sequences of layers in different geographic locations, the same or similar fossil floras or faunas occur in the identical order. By comparing overlapping sequences, it is possible to build up a continuous record of faunas and floras that have progressively more in common with present-day life forms as the top of the sequence is approached.




Fossils are most often formed from organisms that have a solid and resistant skeleton. Hard parts, such as bones and teeth, are more likely to survive the ravages of time compared to their softer counterparts, which tend to decompose rapidly. When an organism with such hard parts dies and is quickly buried, this sets the stage for the long, slow process of fossilization.



The great majority of fossils are preserved in a water environment because land remains are more easily destroyed. Anaerobic conditions at the bottom of the seas or other bodies of water are especially favorable for preserving fine details, since no bottom faunas, except for anaerobic bacteria, are present to destroy the remains. In general, for an organism to be preserved, two conditions must be met: rapid burial to retard decomposition and to prevent the ravaging of scavengers, and possession of hard parts capable of being fossilised.



By contrast, the soft parts of animals or plants are very rarely preserved. The embedding of insects in amber (a process called resin fossilisation) and the preservation of the carcasses of Pleistocene mammoths in ice are rare but striking examples of the fossil preservation of soft tissues. Leaves, stems, and other vegetable matter may be preserved through the process of carbonisation, where such parts are flattened between two layers of rock. The chemical reduction of the part produces a carbon film that occurs on one layer of rock, while an impression of that part occurs on the other layer of the rock.

 


Fossil collection as performed by palaceontologists, geologists, and other scientists typically involves a rigorous excavation and documentation process. Unearthing the specimen from the rock is often painstaking work that includes labelling each part of the specimen and cataloguing the location of each part within the rock. Those fossils slated for removal from the rock are slowly and carefully excavated using techniques designed to prevent or minimise damage to the specimen. Such fossils often become part of museum or university collections.



While writing this BLOG post, a newspaper report caught my eye. A wildlife photographer, Elio Della Ferrera, stumbled upon one of the oldest and largest known collections of dinosaur footprints, dating back about 210 million years, in an Italian national park near the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympic venue of Bormio.



                              

The Crypto elite are investing in a 69-million-year-old dinosaur fossil. As NFTs fade, digital moguls are turning their attention to other valuable assets.


Deep inside a Singaporean vault dubbed 'Asia's Fort Knox', nestled alongside fine wines and priceless paintings, lies a fully formed, 69-million-year-old triceratops skeleton — one of only 24 known specimens. The skeleton resides in an 82-square-metre windowless room inside Le Freeport vault—a high-security, climate-controlled facility for storing and trading valuable assets, such as fine art, jewels, and precious metals.


The $5-million purchase by Yoann Turpin, co-founder of crypto market maker Wintermute, and his co-investors is indicative of the transitioning tastes of the crypto elite, whose fascination with digital artworks known as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) petered out after a 2022 boom. Now, executives from the world of digital coins are increasingly drawn to antiques, precious metals and statues.



Le Freeport, built in 2010 near Changi Airport, Singapore, certainly wasn't made with cryptocurrency entrepreneurs in mind. But it was purchased in 2022 for 40 million Singaporean dollars (about $28 million at the time) by crypto billionaire Jihan Wu, founder of Bitcoin miner Bitdeer Technologies Group. Since then, the faculty has experienced an influx of wealthy crypto investors looking for a place to stash precious metal holdings, as per Lincoln Ng, CEO of Le Freeport Management.




Jurassic Park:


An industrialist invites some experts to visit his theme park of cloned dinosaurs. After a power failure, the creatures run loose.




                               

Jurassic Park is a 1993 American science fiction adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Michael Crichton and David Koepp, based on Crichton's 1990 novel. Starring Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, and Richard Attenborough, the film is set on the fictional island of Isla Nublar near Costa Rica, where wealthy businessman John Hammond (Attenborough) and a team of genetic scientists have created a wildlife park of de-extinct dinosaurs. When industrial sabotage leads to a catastrophic shutdown of the park's power facilities and security precautions, a small group of visitors struggle to survive and escape the now perilous island.




JURRASSIC WORLD REBIRTH


Zora Bennett leads a team of skilled operatives to the most dangerous place on Earth, an island research facility for the original Jurassic Park. Their mission is to secure genetic material from dinosaurs whose DNA can provide life-saving benefits to mankind. As the top-secret expedition becomes more and more risky, they soon make a sinister, shocking discovery that's been hidden from the world for decades.


A 2025 movie now in Cinemas across the world.


It is a sequel to Jurassic World Dominion (2022), it is the fourth Jurassic World film, as well as the seventh installment overall in the Jurassic Park franchise.


 

VALMIKI'S FOSSIL :



Valmiki, an ancient Indian sage who is recognised in the Hindu tradition as the original author of the Sanskrit epic the Ramayana, the story of Rama’s journey and one of the most meaningful and influential texts in Hinduism and South Asian literature. Valmiki plays a role in the epic itself by providing shelter to Rama’s wife, Sita, in his hermitage and by teaching the Ramayana to Rama and Sita’s twin sons, Kusha and Lava. He is referred to by the honorary titles Maharishi (Great Sage) and Adi Kavi (First Poet) for authoring the Ramayana. His birth anniversary, Valmiki Jayanti or Pargat Diwas, is celebrated on the full moon of the Hindu month of Ashvin (falling in September or October on the Gregorian calendar).

                              

Valmiki's Fossil

Valmika (वल्मीक) is a Sanskrit word meaning "anthill" or "termite mound," and the name Valmiki (the sage-poet of the Ramayana) comes from this word because an anthill reportedly grew around him during his intense meditation, symbolising transformation and spiritual rebirth. The name signifies wisdom, poetic genius, and redemption, linked to the first epic poet (Adi Kavi).

 

Valmiki's original name before his spiritual transformation was Ratnakara, a highway robber who later became the revered sage and author of the Ramayana. He earned the name Valmiki ("from the anthill") after years of intense meditation, during which an anthill (Sanskrit: valmika) grew around him.



"Valmiki's fossils" isn't about physical remains of the sage himself, but rather a concept used to argue for the ancient origins of the Ramayana, pointing to descriptions in the text, like four-tusked elephants (Gomphotheres), that match extinct prehistoric creatures, suggesting Valmiki described real, ancient beings, not just myths, thus placing the story millions of years ago, much older than mainstream history accepts.





                                   Gomphotheres (four-tusked elephant)

While historians date the text much later (around 2000 BCE or earlier), these "fossils of the text" (like Gomphotheres and possibly dinosaurs mentioned in other texts) are seen by some as evidence of a deep, real history, according to proponents of this view.

Gomphotheres in the Ramayana: The Sundar Kaand describes giant, four-tusked elephants (Chaturdanta Gaja) guarding Lanka, which aligns with Gomphotheres, an extinct elephant lineage that died out around 15 million years ago, according to proponents.

 

Dinosaur Mentions: Similar arguments suggest mentions of giant lizards (dinosaurs) in texts like the Bhagavata Purana could be based on fossil encounters, though this is a different text.



Dating Implications: If Valmiki described these ancient creatures from life, the Ramayana's events could be over a million years old, challenging the conventional timeline.

To sum up, the cryptocurrency boom and investment by crypto millionaires in antiques and fossils have surpassed this year more than ever before.

Before a sharp sell-off, cryptocurrency prices have surged this year, thanks in large part to favourable policies from the US under pro-crypto US President Donald Trump. The same is true for an array of tokenised products, gold in particular.

 

Meanwhile, the crypto executives' penchant for esoteric and, at times, bizarre purchases continues - albeit with a more tangible, more fungible flavour.

Last year, billionaire Justin Sun paid $6.2 million for a banana duct-taped to a wall. Yat Siu, co-founder of Animoca Brands, bought a 1708 Stradivarius violin valued at more than $9 million in 2023, later pledging it - along with an NFT version - as collateral for a loan from Galaxy Digital.

For Yoann Turpin, part of the appeal is that, much like Bitcoin, only a finite number of such fossils are left in the world.  "It is something quite special to see it displayed, to be able to touch it and experience it in the real world," he said.

 

 

 

                                                              ************