| Ivan Yefremov's Paleontology Tools | |
|---|---|
| |
|
Origin |
Ivan Antonovich Yefremov |
|
Type |
Assorted brushes and picks |
|
Effects |
Instant fossilization and reversal |
|
Downsides |
Inability to resist acting on ideas |
|
Activation |
Contact (brushing or striking) |
|
Collected by |
Warehouse 13 |
|
Section |
|
|
Date of Collection |
1989, 2015 |
| [Source] | |
Origin[]
Ivan Antonovich Yefremov was a Soviet paleontologist, science fiction author and social thinker. He is the originator of the concept of taphonomy, the study of fossilization patterns. Yefremov joined a Red Army unit as a "son of the regiment" and went to Perekop with it. In 1921, he was discharged and went to Petrograd (today's Saint Petersburg) to study. He completed his education there while combining his studies with a variety of odd jobs. He later commented that "the Revolution was also my own liberation from philistinism"
In 1924, due to the influence of academician Petr Petrovich Sushkin, he became interested in paleontology. In mid-1930s, he took part in several paleontological expeditions to the Volga region, the Urals, and Central Asia. He headed a research laboratory at the Institute of Paleontology. In 1935, he took exit examinations and graduated from the Leningrad Mining Institute. The same year he got his Candidate of Science degree in biological sciences. In 1941, he got his doctorate degree in biological sciences.
In the 1940s, Yefremov developed a new scientific field called taphonomy. He applied many taphonomic principles in his field work during a paleontological expedition to the Gobi desert in Mongolia. During these years, he was recognized as a successful scientist and won a state science award. Many American researches called Yefremov the father of modern paleontology, who merged geological and palaeontological data into a single science.
Effects[]
Consisting of assorted brushes (4), picks (3), and hammers (2), the tools have one of two effects based on how they are used. Picks and hammers, when striking organic material, rapidly accelerate the decomposition and fossilization effects. Millions of years of calcification occur over the space of seconds, leaving a stone in the shape of any bone or keratin matter.
The brushes, when passed over a fossil, instantly regrow the fossil back into living tissue. This, of course, can present issues in the case of partial fossils such as vertebrae or fangs. Even a complete fossil will not, however return the organism to life.
Both sets of artifacts, when used, inhibit the impulse control of the user in regards to new ideas, often causing them to act on things without considering the consequences.
Other items belonging to Yefremov were recovered along with the brushes in 1989 including some calipers (2) and a compass (1). None of these items have displayed artifact qualities and do not react to neutralization. The complimenting set of brushes were recovered from Eureka in 2015.
Felix's Notes[]
"Recovered the brushes from Eureka after an incident involving the extraction of dinosaur DNA from reconstituted tissue. It would seem that the recovered DNA, being an artifact-charged creation, had an unusual reaction to being inserted into viable embryos. The effects of the artifact did not stop once the DNA was part of a living organism and continued to replicate any dead tissue into a living, fully-formed copy of the thing it fell from.
Neutralizing the artifact caused all clones created by this exponential effect to instantly dematerialize, although initial clones created from the altered embryos remained. This was possibly due to the viable DNA being inserted into an already existing organism instead of being manifested though artifact energy."