Handling and Photographing Fossils

Paleontological iconography has come under considerable scrutiny in the recent years. In particular, historians have analyzed the impact of photography on paleontological illustration, with authors often coming to different conclusions. The present article aims at showing that visual alteration has long represented a fundamental tool of scientific inquiry in paleontological photography. During the 1900s–1960s period, paleontologists, photographers and other practitioners developed several techniques to handle fossils and fossil pictures in order to bring out phenotypic characteristics useful for taxonomic determination. The article will examine two major case-studies: photographic retouching and the so-called “coating” techniques, with specific regard to the ammonium chloride and magnesium oxide methods for whitening fossils.