Scientists from around the world have called for international cooperation to crack down on illegal excavation and smuggling of ancient fossils.

Ancient fossilized organisms were the "monument" that recorded the history of the Earth, said M. Akhmetiev, a Russian scientist, at a just-concluded international symposium on Cretaceous Biota and the K/T Boundary from the Reaches of the Heilongjiang River.

Dozens of Chinese and foreign paleontologists and geologists discussed the catastrophic depopulation of Cretaceous organisms and revival of life in the Tertiary period at the symposium in Changchun, capital of Jilin Province in northeast China.

Sun Ge, a renowned Chinese paleontologist, said the random excavation and smuggling of fossils had been rampant owing to the lack of special laws and regulations in China. Thousands of fossilized dinosaur eggs excavated in China have been smuggled to other countries.

Such activities had to be stopped, said D. L. Dilcher, a scientist from the United States, adding that laws had been enacted in his country to protect fossils and stop their smuggling.

China boasts rich fossils resources in almost the entire country.

In recent years, fossils of dinosaur eggs and skeletons that were discovered in Henan and Hubei provinces, and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, fossilized birds found in western Liaoning Province, fossilized animals discovered in Yunnan Province and animal and plant fossils found in Shandong Province have attracted worldwide attention.

China has drawn up regulations on ancient fossils, prohibiting their unauthorized excavation.

The excavation of fossils without examination by experts and the sale of fossils will be illegal, according to the new set of regulations which come into force on October 1.

( September 11, 2002)