The Battle for Sue: a Controversy Over Commercial Collecting, Fossil

The Battle for Sue: A Controversy Over Commercial Collecting, Fossil Ownership Rights and its Effects on Museums Adrienne Stroup MUS 503: Intro to Museum Studies 13 December 2011 Should commercial fossil dealing be legal? Many museums rely on dealers for specimens because they do not have the resources to fund professional excavations conducted by paleontologists. On the contrary, many members of the scientific community believe commercial fossil hunting by amateurs hurts the integrity of paleontology, and in turn negatively affects museums. This debate, along with issues surrounding the ownership rights of fossil resources, is not a new one, but it came to the attention of the media when a Tyrannosaurus rex dubbed “Sue” was discovered in South Dakota in 1990. Flashing back 67 million years ago, western South Dakota was once the coast of an inland sea that divided the North American continent in two. The climate was humid and swampy, with dense vegetation, much like the southeastern United States is today (Fiffer 12). The seven-ton Tyrannosaurus dominated the landscape as the top predator of the Cretaceous Period. Standing over thirteen feet tall at the hips, up to twenty feet tall when standing completely upright, and forty-one feet long, Sue would have been a formidable opponent (Reedstrom). Her fossilized remains portray an animal that led a violent and difficult life, with evidence of a healed leg fracture, and other injuries. A tooth fragment embedded in her rib and puncture wounds in her jaw and eye socket suggest fights with other Tyrannosaurs, leading to her possible cause of death, a fatal skull-crushing bite (Monastersky, “Sake of Sue”). Her life may have been difficult, but that is only the beginning. The events that take place after her discovery continue her unique story. At the time of her discovery she was the largest, and best-preserved Tyrannosaurus fossil ever found. Ninety percent of her skeleton exists, making her by far the most complete T. rex specimen. In fact, she is so well preserved that the contents of her stomach reveal her last meal was an Edmontosaurus, a species of duck-billed dinosaur (Fiffer 2). Considering that she was only the twelfth T. rex found after a hundred years of fossil hunting, this discovery was truly the find of the century. Only four of these Tyrannosaurus skeletons contained sixty percent of their bones, and presently fewer than thirty skeletons exist (Monastersky, “Psst”). One can start to sense the importance of this find, not just to the scientific community but to the world, and this significance was certainly not lost to those directly involved with her discovery. In the summer of 1990, the president of the Black Hills Institute for Geologic Research, Peter Larson, along with a team of commercial fossil hunters set out to Faith, South Dakota to search for fossils near property owned by a local rancher named Maurice Williams. Williams, a Native American who is one-quarter Cheyenne River Sioux, approached Larson, inviting him to search on his land (Monastersky, “Sake of Sue”). Larson’s team obliged and on August 12th, team member Susan Hendrickson discovered the now famous T. rex, which was named Sue in her honor (Fiffer 2). With the discovery of that initial vertebra, Larson said he asked for William’s permission to excavate immediately and two weeks later the skull was uncovered. Easily considered the most important piece of any fossilized skeleton, for scientists and collectors alike, due to the rarity, the scientific information it can provide, and its aesthetic quality, the skull’s discovery started the negotiations (Fiffer 25). Larson handed Williams a check for $5000 to purchase the skeleton and completed the excavation (Monastersky, “Sake of Sue”). However, this is where the events become muddied with conflicting recollections of the story. Communication was not clear, and paying Williams for the fossil before it was even fully out of the ground may have been confusing to the rancher. Williams openly accepted the check though, assuming it was for permission to search for fossils, or for the excavation-related damage to his land. He claimed Larson did not explain what the money was for, though according to Larson’s attorney, Patrick K. Duffy, the check was clearly labeled. This clarity is subjective however, as it was labeled: “For Theropod Sue,” which is not in layman’s terms (Monastersky, “Sake of Sue”). The term “theropod” refers to the family of bipedal carnivorous dinosaurs to which Tyrannosaurs belongs, and “Sue” was a nickname the crew had just given to the fossil. In contrast, Larson has a different account of what happened the day the skull was discovered. According to an interview with Larson by Karen Reedstrom, Williams visited the site, watched the excavation in progress and eventually the two agreed on a price. A hand written contract was created but Williams told him “there’s no need to sign anything between friends” and accepted the money. Regardless of the actual events of that day, Williams never possessed the authority to sell the Tyrannosaurus without first gaining the approval of Department of Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. As a Native American, his land is held in trust by the United States government (Hoganson 15). In other words, Williams technically owned his property, but the Federal Government controls what can be done with it. This option allowed Williams to be exempt from property taxes for a span of twenty-five years, which is a common practice on reservations (Browne, “Seizure”). As a stipulation, real estate held in trust cannot be sold, and since the T. rex was not completely excavated at the time of her sale, she was still considered to be real estate by the U.S. District Court Judge, Richard Battey, of Rapid City, South Dakota. Because of this highly controversial ruling, the sale of Sue was never valid (Janke). Whether Larson knew this or not, is unknown. The dig was completed and all ten tons of fossilized bone, much of it still incased in rock, were transported back to the Black Hills Institute(BHI) in Hill City, South Dakota, where Peter Larson and his brother and partner Neal had plans for building a nonprofit museum. For thirty years they had dreams of building one to showcase some of their fossil collection, ninety percent of which are sold to museums and universities as casts or original specimens, and the rest to private collectors, all carefully prepared by the BHI staff. As an advocate for amateur fossil collectors, paleontologist and curator for the Huston Museum of Natural Science, Dr. Robert T. Bakker, has always supported the Black Hills Institute, and their excavation and preparatory work. He had this to say about Larson and the institute: Peter Larson’s organization is one of the most competent excavators and preparators of fossils in the business, and his generosity to scientists in allowing us to study specimens is well known. He keeps meticulous records, he is better at mounting specimens than many scientists, and he has pioneered the development of special glues for mending broken fossil bones. (qtd. in Browne, “Dinosaur”) In March of 1992, the Larson brothers officially announced the plans to build what would be called the Black Hills Museum of Natural History. A foundation for the museum was created and fundraising had begun (Fiffer 42). The museum was designed to showcase Sue, along with other fossils found in the area. The intent was to keep the fossil in a local institution to highlight the natural history of the region, and promote tourism. At least two thousand hours of preparation work went into Sue at this point (Reedstrom). There was even plans to have the skull CAT-scanned by NASA scientists for National Geographic (Janke). However, this did not go as planned. Word of this dispute spread, grabbing the attention of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribal council. Believing the dinosaur rightfully belonged to them, because of where it was found, the council asked for help from U.S. Attorney Kevin Schieffer, who issued a search warrant to seize the T. rex from Larson on May 13, 1992 (Monastersky, “Sake of Sue”). The fossil was to be used as evidence in a criminal case against Larson and BHI. The next day members of the National Guard, the FBI, the National Park Service, the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and local police raided the institute, confiscating Sue and all of the associated records and paperwork. Even some fossils unrelated to the Tyrannosaur were taken, as well as BHI’s financial records (Janke; Reedstrom). Schieffer deemed Sue was government property based on the Antiquities Act from 1956, which included the protection of fossils along with Native American artifacts found on government-controlled land (Fiffer 106). This surprised everyone, including the chairman of the Sioux tribal council, Gregg Bourland (Fiffer 57). The tribal council also had hopes of building their own museum around the T. rex. Plans were already made to begin training tribe members fossil curation techniques (Fiffer 101). Schieffer’s ruling was not valid, however, because the act was revised in the 1980s to exclude fossils as they are not cultural relics. Essentially, he used the Antiquities Act to gain possession of the fossil and when it no longer helped him in court, he simply abandoned that route (Fiffer 106). In addition, Schieffer had this to say, “The real problem was that unless we acted, Sue might have been lost. Mr. Larson would have been able to dispose of it any way he chose. We want to make sure it remains forever available to the public” (qtd.

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