The fossil trade is the purchase and sale of fossils. This is many times done illegally with stolen fossils, and many important scientific specimens are lost each year. The trade is lucrative, and many celebrities collect fossils. The fossil trade has attracted criticism from many paleontologists, who regard the private ownership of fossils to be damaging to science.

History

The auction of the ''

Tyrannosaurus ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...

'' skeleton known as Sue in 1997 for $8.3 million is considered to have caused an increased interest in the fossil trade. According to the head of science and natural history at Christie's, James Hyslop, the market in fossils has been growing consistently since 2007. Due to the increased awareness of the lucrative nature of fossils, many landowners have become more reluctant to work with scientists, preferring to instead offer prospecting rights to the highest bidder. The international trade in fossils for use in alternative medicine, commonly referred to as "dragon bone", was worth US$700 million annually as of 2010. Fossil poaching is common in Mongolia. In five years, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement seized $44 million worth of smuggled fossils. Fossils from Mongolia and China, which are illegal to export, are often claimed to be from Central Asia. Fossils sold through the fossil trade are often composites of multiple specimens, not necessarily from a single species, combined to look like one skeleton.

Legality

In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, it is legal to sell fossils collected on private land. In

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, and China, the export of fossils is illegal.

Ethics and controversy

The

Society of Vertebrate Paleontology The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) is a professional organization that was founded in the United States in 1940 to advance the science of vertebrate paleontology around the world. Mission and Activities SVP has about 2,300 members inter ...

, an international association of professional and amateur vertebrate paleontologists, believes that scientifically important fossils—especially but not exclusively those found on public lands—should be held in perpetuity in the public trust, preferably in a museum or research institution, where they can benefit the scientific community as a whole as well as future generations. In the United States,

Paleontological Resources Preservation Act. S. 546 The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (, ) is a land management law passed in the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 30, 2009. The bill designates millions of acres in the US as protected an ...

and H. R. 2416 were introduced in the

US Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washin ...

with SVP's full support. Many commercial fossil collectors and dealers believe that such policies are a breach of their rights. The argument has also been put forth that there are too few professional paleontologists to collect and preserve fossils currently exposed to the elements, and that it is therefore essential that private citizens be allowed to collect them for the sake of their preservation. Eric Scott, the Curator of Paleontology for the San Bernardino County Museum, argues that 1) private citizens and amateur (not for profit) collectors can and do participate frequently in the permitted recovery and preservation of significant vertebrate fossils, and 2) preservation of significant fossils does not require or mandate ''sale'' of those fossils. The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology's by-laws state that the society does not condone the trade of scientifically significant vertebrate fossils, except for the purpose of keeping fossils in the public trust.

Notable incidents

A hoax specimen composed of parts of genuine ''

Yanornis ''Yanornis'' () is an extinct genus of fish-eating Early Cretaceous birds. Two species have been described, both from Liaoning province, China: ''Yanornis martini'', based on several fossils found in the 120-million-year-old Jiufotang Formati ...

'' and ''

Microraptor ''Microraptor'' (Greek, μικρός, ''mīkros'': "small"; Latin, ''raptor'': "one who seizes") is a genus of small, four-winged dromaeosaurid dinosaurs. Numerous well-preserved fossil specimens have been recovered from Liaoning, China. They ...

'' fossils obtained by a museum through the fossil trade was originally interpreted as a "missing link" between dinosaurs and birds and planned to be named "

Archaeoraptor "Archaeoraptor" is the informal generic name for a fossil chimera from China in an article published in ''National Geographic'' magazine in 1999. The magazine claimed that the fossil was a " missing link" between birds and terrestrial therop ...

", but was identified as a hoax before being formally published in a scientific journal. A ''

'' skeleton nicknamed " Stan" sold at an auction in 2020 for $31.8 million, a record-setting price. The skull of a ''Tyrannosaurus'' relative called ''

Tarbosaurus bataar ''Tarbosaurus'' ( ; meaning "alarming lizard") is a genus of tyrannosaurid dinosaur that flourished in Asia about 70 million years ago, at the end of the Late Cretaceous Period (geology), Period, considered to contain a single known species, ' ...

'' illegally exported from Mongolia was purchased by the actor

Nicolas Cage Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Gui ...

for $276,000 in 2007. When contacted by U.S. authorities, Cage voluntarily handed over the specimen for repatriation to Mongolia. A smuggled skeleton of ''Tarbosaurus bataar'', which is also called ''Tyrannosaurus bataar'', was the subject of the ''in rem'' case ''

United States v. One Tyrannosaurus Bataar Skeleton ''United States v. One Tyrannosaurus Bataar Skeleton'' (1:13−cv−00857) is a 2013 United States District Court for the Southern District of New York judgment regarding a requested order from the United States government to seize an imported ...

''. The holotype specimen of the dinosaur ''

Halszkaraptor ''Halszkaraptor'' (; meaning " Halszka's seizer") is a genus of waterfowl-like dromaeosaurid dinosaurs from Mongolia that lived during the Late Cretaceous period. It contains only one known species, ''Halszkaraptor escuilliei''. The type speci ...

'' had been obtained through the fossil trade. Due to its provenance, several scientists initially expressed concern that it was a hoax, but scanning suggests the specimen was not tampered with.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite news , first1 = Sophie , last1 = Haigney , title = Once again, fossils are hot , url = https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/18/arts/fossils-private-sale-collectors.html , url-access = subscription , work = The New York Times , date = 2021-06-18 , access-date = 2021-10-23 {{cite web, url=https://vertpaleo.org/statement-regarding-the-sale-of-vertebrate-fossils-online/, title=Statement regarding the sale of vertebrate fossils online, publisher=The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, access-date=2021-10-23, archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211023192222/https://vertpaleo.org/statement-regarding-the-sale-of-vertebrate-fossils-online/ , archive-date = 2021-10-23 {{cite news , first1 = Beth , last1 = Timmins , date = 2019-11-23 , title = Dinosaurs: restoring Mongolia's fossil heritage , work = BBC News , url = https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-50131770 , access-date = 2021-10-23 {{Cite journal, volume = 45, pages = 323–332, last1 = van der Geer, first1 = Alexandra, last2 = Dermitzakis, first2 = Michael, title = Fossils in pharmacy: from "snake eggs" to "Saint's bones"; an overview, journal = Hellenic Journal of Geosciences, date = 2010 {{cite news , title = Nicolas Cage returns stolen dinosaur skull he bought for $276,000 , work = NBC news , date = 2015-12-22 , access-date = 2021-10-23 , url = https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/celebrity/nicolas-cage-returns-stolen-dinosaur-skull-he-bought-276-000-n484521 {{cite magazine , title = Bones of contention , first1 = Paige , last1 = Williams , date = 2013-01-20 , magazine = The New Yorker , url = https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/01/28/bones-of-contention-paige-williams , url-access = subscription {{cite news , first1 = Ed , last1 = Yong , title = How to tell if a dinosaur is fake , work = The Atlantic , date = 2017-12-08 , url = https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/12/how-to-tell-if-a-dinosaur-is-fake/547886/ , url-access = subscription Fossil trade Trade by commodity

History

Legality

Ethics and controversy

Notable incidents

See also

References