‘Dickinsonia fossil’ found in Bhimbetka is old beehive

Last Updated24/02/2023

Fossils of an extinct species of animal that scientists reported in a sensational discovery from India’s Bhimbetka Rock Shelters in 2021 have been found to be belied hopes.

In March 2020, Dr. Retallack, a Professor at the University of Oregon, and some other researchers were given a tour of the Bhimbetka Rock Shelters, in Madhya Pradesh.
There, they spotted by chance what looked like a 44-cm-wide fossil of Dickinsonia, an animal that lived at least 538 million years ago, in a cave.
Dickinsonia fossils in other parts of the world have indicated it was circular or oval in shape, somewhat flat, with rib-like structures radiating from a central column.
They published a paper describing their findings in February 2021.

A Professor of geology at the University of Florida, visited the same Bhimbetka cave in December 2022, he found some discrepancies with the other fossil finds.
Eventually, he concluded that “the impression resulted from decay of a modern beehive which was attached to a fractured rock surface”, as he wrote in his paper published in January 2023.
When Dr. Retallack was notified of these findings, he decided to have his paper corrected.
While the fossils were believed to be legitimate, they suggested that the youngest Upper Vindhyan sediments were 540 million years old; the rock shelters are located in this area.