Dinosaurs | Cultural Property & Archaeology Law

Browsing All Posts filed under »Dinosaurs«

Nicholas Cage on the Hot Seat for Smuggled T-Rex Fossil?

November 6, 2013

In 2007, Nicholas Cage outbid fellow actor Leonardo Dicaprio for a 67-million-year-old skull of a Tyrannosaurus bataar, a close relative of the T. rex, paying $US276,000 for what he called “a ferocious-looking addition to his fossil collection.” Now, this fossil may be one of those that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) aims to seize as […]

Smuggled Tyrannosaurus Skeleton at Auction

January 2, 2013

Described as “a superb Tyrannosaurus skeleton” that “ruled the food chain of the ancient food plains that are today’s Gobi Desert,” an Asian dinosaur skeleton recently sold for over $1 million at Heritage Actions last May. Now, The New York Times reports that the man who shipped the skeleton into the United States has admitted […]

Sidetracked: The Struggle for British Columbia’s Fossils

October 18, 2011

Author Vivien Lougheed explores “the egos, money and science behind fossil hunting in British Columbia” in her new book, Sidetracked: The Struggle for BC’s Fossils. Under Canadian law, it is legal to hunt and sell fossils. Under the Cultural Property Act, rare fossils are protected if so designated by a paleontologist, but there are only […]

Raptor-Thieving Paleontologist Pleads Guilty to State Charges

March 11, 2009

A month ago I reported on paleontologist Nathan Murphy’s snatching of a raptor, then concealing its find spot, and then supposedly losing it under a giant turtle shell. (A little known variant of “the dog ate my homework” is “the Jurassic turtle shell ate my Cretaceous raptor.”) Murphy has now pled guilty in state court […]

Raptor With Multiple Personalities Source of Controversy

January 23, 2009

Julieraptor, Sid Vicious, Kleptoraptor… Who was the raptor really? A well-reknowned hobby paleontologist, Nathan Murphy, has been charged with theft for excavating a raptor in 2002 and failing to notify the owner of the land it was found on. His defense is that he didn’t realize whose land it was; he thought it was a […]