If you admit to being an archaeologist in answer to the question ‘What do you do?’, you will often elicit the response: ‘My daughter/son is very keen on fossils/dinosaurs’. The polite reaction is to smile and nod, rather than pointing out that archaeologists study human culture, and that dinosaurs were long extinct by the time the human race began. But it appears that archaeologists and palaeontologists do have one thing in common: a deep-seated concern about the privatisationof objects that form part of our common heritage.
Palaeontologists, according to a recent report inThe Times, are unhappy about the recent sale of a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton to a private collector forUS$6.1 million. The auction house said it was the firsttime in Europe that an entire T. rex skeleton had been offered for sale – though to call it ‘entire’ stretches a point: it is known as the ‘Trinity’ skeleton because it consists of bones from three different T. rex finds, excavated between 2008 and 2013 from the Hell Creek and Lance Creek formations in Montana and Wyoming.
For a T. rex skeleton to be classed as ‘high quality’, at least half of the bones have to be genuine fossils; in this case, fossil bones comprise just over the magic 50 per cent, while the rest are made from plaster and epoxy resin, cast from other bones. For this reason, Professor Steve Brusatte of the University of Edinburgh has described Trinity as ‘a Frankenstein rex’. Even so, the sale is seen as part of a growing trend that harms science by putting fossil specimens out of researchers’ reach. ‘These fossils are rare and scientifically important’, Professor Brusatte said, ‘and I feel they properly belong in a museum where they can be kept safe, studied by scientists, and inspire kids and members of the public of all ages.’
Ancient aquifers and a sovereign spirit