Large events are framed one way, based on fragmentary initial impressions, and as more facts are assembled and considered, the complexion of the story shifts and takes unexpected detours.
But in outlining the evidence that prompted those conclusions, they also repeatedly acknowledged that they had been based on circumstantial, fragmentary data.
Mr. Geragos said, based on his fragmentary knowledge of the identity of Mr. Jackson's accuser and the accuser's account, "I'm not so sure there's even going to be a charging document".
A new lycopsid, Hestia eremosa R.M. Bateman, Kenrick and Rothwell gen. et sp. nov., is described based on three fragmentary permineralised axes from separate horizons of the Lower Carboniferous (Tn3) sequence of tuffs and lacustrine deposits at Oxroad Bay, East Lothian, Scotland.
One problem with assessing the weight of both Argentinosaurus and this new discovery is that they're both based on very fragmentary specimens - no complete skeleton is known, which means the animal's proportions and overall shape are conjectural.
Although previous studies, based on more fragmentary genetic samples, did not find any evidence that Neanderthals left any traces in the modern human genome, the new findings are based on new technology along with powerful computational statistical tools and other techniques to divulge the genetic makeup.
So, probe design had to be based on these fragmentary genetic data.
Previous reports of megalograptids in excess of 200 cm in length are based on two fragmentary tergites of Megalograptus shideleri which Caster and Kjellesvig-Waering [ 5] considered to be derived from a giant individual based on the dimensions of cuticular scales.
The Australian theropod fossil record is exceptionally poor with all previously described taxa based on one or two fragmentary individual skeletal elements.
But not everyone is convinced that either Morotopithecus or Kenyapithecus is such close kin to living apes and humans, noting that the recent conclusions are based on fragmentary fossils.
