The fossil, subsequently named Livonia multidentata, dates back 375 million years, a period of time during which fish are believed to have somehow mutated and made a transition toward the evolutionary process which would develop in man. Or so some scientists and evolutionists agree. Mark- Kurik has had this 2 inch fossil with its 5 sets of razor traced back almost a century. As a child, Mark-Kurik and countless others suffered in fear of the KGB, a long dreadful period in the Soviet Union which ended finally in 1991, during which she was not allowed to travel to other countries and confer with scientists on theirs and her findings. Furthermore, her research had to be published in Russian, hardly an easily understood language.
Paleontology is very much a world science.
You must see fossils from around the world and you must exchange information with other scientists to understand what you have. And so, the world is now being introduced to this alleged missing link fossil. In 1991 freedom finally, but no money, until in the mid 1990 s NATO bestowed a grant upon Mark-Kurik and fellow paleontologists Per Ahlberg of Sweden and Ervins Luksevics of Latvia to analyze rocks and fauna retrieved from Scotland and the Baltic region. It was during this endeavor that the team realized their treasure. Jawbones are very specialized specimens and undergo evolutionary change once every 10 million years.