page_title: Messel pit
hierarchical_section_title: Messel pit
caption_attribution_description: English: Main slab of Darwinius masillae (specimen PMO 214.214), new genus and species, from Messel in Germany. Français&#160;: Fossile de Darwinius masillae (spécimen PMO 214.214), trouvé à Messel, en Allemagne. Le genre et l'espèce sont nouveaux.
context_page_description: The Messel Pit 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. 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.
  Amateur collectors developed a "transfer technique" to preserve the fine details of small fossils, the method still used to preserve the fossils today. 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.
context_section_description: 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. 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.
  Amateur collectors developed a "transfer technique" to preserve the fine details of small fossils, the method still used to  preserve the fossils today. 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.
caption: Darwinius  showing the remarkable preservation at Messel.
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