International Senckenberg Conference on the Messel Pit:
The World at the Time of Messel: Back to the Future?
The Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt am Main, Germany, cordially invites you to the international conference, which will take place from December 8th to 12th, 2025. The conference marks three significant anniversaries surrounding the Konservat-Lagerstätte known as the Messel Pit:
30 years UNESCO World Heritage Status of the Messel Pit Fossil Site (1995)
50 years of Senckenberg excavations at the Messel Pit (1975)
150 years since the first fossil was discovered at Messel (December 1875)
The Messel Pit, whose fossiliferous sediments are about 47 million years in age, is arguably the best-preserved ecosystem from the last sustained greenhouse phase of the Earth’s climate. The taxonomic breadth (with 1409 documented taxa so far) and exceptional preservation offer unique insights into a terrestrial ecosystem under climatic conditions that Earth might again experience in coming centuries.
While the conference celebrates Messel and its history of study, it will look at the entire Eocene world in its broadest sense, from geology to paleontology to climate research, with a focus on terrestrial ecosystems. State-of-the-art scientific research will be presented and discussed during the conference in an international context.
Seven main scientific topics were selected for the conference:
Taphonomy – What processes link a living community to the fossils lying in a drawer?
Life History and Reproduction – From histology to population dynamics, what can we infer about the life history patterns of ancient species?
Organismic Diversity – What do we learn about Eocene biodiversity compared to today?
Interspecific Interactions – From trophic relations to parasitism, how did species interact in Eocene ecosystems?
Sensory Systems – How did extinct organisms perceive their environment, and how did sensory systems evolve?
Biogeography – How did species’ geographic distributions shift in response to environmental change, and how did communities change as a result?
Terrestrial Paleoclimate – How can we reconstruct ancient climates during the Eocene, the warmest interval of the last 66 million years?
Because the sessions address broad questions in the paleobiology, they will run serially, rather than in
parallel. In addition to four days of scientific sessions, we plan these additional events:
An evening reception in the Imperial Hall (Kaisersaal) at the “Römer,” or City Hall in Frankfurt, to mark the UNESCO anniversary,
an evening, public panel discussion at the Senckenberg Museum on the history of Messel, featuring panelists involved in saving the Messel Pit from becoming a landfill (in German language),
an evening, public panel discussion on what we as a society can learn from Messel in the context of global climate change (in English language),
a conference dinner,
a field excursion to the Messel Pit.
Travel grants
Five travel grants will be awarded to researchers at early stages of their careers; further information on how to apply will follow soon. Additionally, we encourage student attendance and participation through a reduced registration fee.
Funding
The Volkswagen Foundation has supported and promoted research into the Messel Pit from the very beginning of Senckenberg’s excavation. We are delighted that the Volkswagen Foundation is continuing this partnership by funding this international Senckenberg conference.
Program
An outline of the program is found below. Please check back soon for updates about the conference.
Registration
The registration website will open soon (no later than the end of April). A template for abstract submission will be provided.
