Provenance evidence rubric

Provenance is the documented history of where a fossil came from and who held it. This proposed 0–100 rubric measures whether specified evidence fields are present and internally consistent. It does not prove lawful title, validate a government document, or replace jurisdiction-specific review.

The 15 Scored Factors

The equal weighting shown here is a proposed publication rule. Before live scoring, weights and caps must be validated against real disputes and documented outcomes rather than treated as scientific precision.

• 1Exact country disclosed
• 2State / province disclosed
• 3County / region disclosed
• 4Geological formation disclosed
• 5Land type stated (private/state/federal/tribal)
• 6Discovery date provided
• 7Collector named
• 8Preparer named
• 9Prior owners disclosed
• 10Chain-of-custody documents uploaded
• 11Landowner release uploaded
• 12Import/export documents uploaded
• 13Museum/expert reference (if applicable)
• 14No banned/high-risk country flags
• 15Public locality (exact kept private)

How Scores Map to Action

Document validation sequence

1. Connect: match the exact specimen to measurements, photographs, labels, inventory numbers, and every cited document.
2. Corroborate: compare taxon, formation, locality, dates, land type, collector, prior owners, and shipment history across independent records.
3. Verify: confirm issuers, signatures, permit numbers, and document status through independently located official or institutional channels where possible.
4. Escalate: obtain qualified scientific or legal review when identity, title, collection authority, cultural-property rules, or international movement could change the decision.

Validation required before live scoring

The equal weighting and action bands should be tested against resolved, independently documented cases. Jurassic Depot would need to publish reviewer agreement, error analysis, overrides, and version history before describing the result as calibrated. Until then, the rubric is a transparent checklist that helps expose gaps; it is not a guarantee, title opinion, or legal clearance.