Amazon.com
This documentary from PBS's
Nova series presents a peculiarly modern story with its roots in a past so distant it can barely be contemplated. A skeleton of a
Tyrannosaurus rex was located at the base of a cliff in the Badlands of South Dakota in 1990 by fossil hunter Sue Hendrickson. And before long, the dinosaur bones had been seized by the Feds, and the group of fossil hunters who claimed the find were defendants in a federal courthouse. Just precisely who owned the
T. rex skeleton, dubbed Sue for its original finder, became a hot issue involving ranchers, a Sioux Native American reservation, concerned scientists, and the federal government. This documentary begins like many dinosaur documentaries, showing how the fossil was found and carefully excavated, but it evolves into an entertaining look at the obscure and controversial market for dinosaur bones. Commercial fossil hunters claim they have a right to dig up bones for profit, while academics are horrified at the tactics they say the "fossil rustlers" employ. It's astonishing to realize that animals who died in streambeds 65 million years ago can wind up in our courts today, and the controversy generated by Sue (which eventually found a home on display in Chicago's Field Museum) makes for intelligent and entertaining viewing.
--Robert J. McNamara
