Peter Larson

Last updated
Peter Larson
Peter Larson 2014 (cropped).jpg
Born
Peter Lars Larson

1952 (age 71–72)
EducationBachelor's in geology, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
Children3
Criminal information
Criminal statusConvicted
Conviction(s) 2 felony counts for United States customs violations involving money declaration and two misdemeanors for the illegal removal of two fossils from Federal government land
Criminal penalty2 years in prison
Imprisoned at Federal Correctional Complex, Florence

Peter Lars Larson is an American fossil dealer who is head of the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research, which specialises in the excavation and preparation of fossils. He led the team that excavated "Sue", one of the largest and most complete specimens of Tyrannosaurus rex, which was the subject of a legal dispute resulting in its seizure and public auction. In 1996, Larson was convicted of customs violations related to failing to declare money he had brought from overseas as well as taking two fossils from federal land, and served 18 months in prison. [1] [2]

Contents

He has published scientific and popular works on dinosaur paleontology. Larson has been criticized by paleontologists for his commercial enterprises and support of private collections. [3]

Education

Peter Larson grew up on a ranch near Mission, South Dakota. He began rock hunting at the age of four on his parents' ranch. He attended the South Dakota School of Mines to study paleontology. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1974. Shortly after graduating college he started Black Hills Minerals.

Early work

Larson founded what eventually became the Black Hills Institute in 1974. [4] Robert Farrar and Neal Larson, his brother, later joined the company with 5 percent ownership and 35 percent, respectively, to Larson's 60 percent. [5]

Sue on display at the Chicago Field Museum Sues skeleton.jpg
Sue on display at the Chicago Field Museum

Sue, federal raid and criminal conviction

In 1990, Larson led the excavation of a substantially complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton later named "Sue". Larson paid the Sioux owner of the ranch on which the specimen was located, Maurice Williams, $5,000 for the find. [1] [6]

On 14 May 1992, a raid led by the U.S. Attorney Kevin Shieffer with 35 F.B.I. agents and 20 National Guardsmen recovered the Tyrannosaurus rex named "Sue" from Larson's commercial fossil dealership, the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research. The federal agents seized the fossil of "Sue", along with other fossils and records. [2] The specimen was taken by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. [2] Although Larson had paid the landowner for the find, [2] Williams had reportedly changed his mind, [1] and the U.S. Attorney charged that the fossil had been illegally taken from land under Federal administration, because the deeded land fell within the borders of a Native American reservation and the parcel itself was held by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the benefit of its Native landowner. [6] After the auction of Sue in 1997, which resulted in its sale to the Field Museum, Williams received $7.6 million. [6]

Keith Nelson, the lead investigator for the Internal Revenue Service, said the evidence recovered at the Black Hills Institute was more than could have been investigated with "so many bones, so many animals, so many invertebrates that were taken off of public lands, taken internationally, sold internationally." [1] The Justice Department charged Larson with conspiracy, obstruction of justice, illegal collection of fossils, theft of government property, wire fraud, making false statements to government agents and customs violations in November 1993. [7] Following a trial on charges unrelated to "Sue", Larson was found guilty and convicted of two felony counts for United States customs violations involving cash brought from overseas, as well as two misdemeanours relating to illegally taking two fossils from federal land. [8] Of the 149 charges faced by Larson and other Black Hills associates, the jury acquitted the defendants of 73 charges, found them guilty of 8 charges and did not reach a verdict on 68 charges. [7] [2] Richard Battey sentenced Larson to two years in Federal prison. Larson appealed to the Eighth Circuit Court against his conviction and was denied. [9] Larson ended up serving 18 months [1] in minimum security prison at the Federal Correctional Complex, Florence, Colorado. [2]

In 1997, Larson told the PBS television program Nova that "The government's wrong. The government is not correct in what they've done here." [10]

Career

In 1992, Larson's team helped to discover the Tyrannosaurus rex specimen, Stan. [5]

In 2013, Larson and colleagues began excavating at a site located in Wyoming, US containing the remnants of three nearly complete skeletons of Triceratops . [11]

In 2012, Larson fired his brother, Neal, from the Black Hills Institute amid personal differences. Neal, owning a 35% share of the company, filed a lawsuit against Larson and others in 2015 alleging that he was being oppressed as a shareholder. He sought to liquidate the company to buy out his 35% share ownership and part ways. The court ruled that Neal's shareholder rights had been violated when he was not invited nor allowed to speak at the meeting where he was fired. The Black Hills Institute did not have enough cash for a buyout, causing Larson's fossil collection to be appraised. Several years later, the court ruled that Neal would receive the Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton "Stan", which was appraised at a value of $6 million at the time. "Stan" was sold for $32 million in 2020. [5]

Authorship

Larson has written and co-authored numerous publications on dinosaurs. [12] [3] [13] He was one of the first to work with T. rex bone pathologies, has worked to uncover sexual dimorphism in the chevron length of T. rex, and argues that several juvenile T. rex skeletons actually represent a distinct genus, Nanotyrannus. [14] Larson, along with paleontologist Kenneth Carpenter, edited the scholarly text Tyrannosaurus Rex, the Tyrant King.

Larson and his ex-wife Kristin Donnan wrote the book, Rex Appeal, about the U.S. Government taking possession of "Sue" following its excavation. The pair also wrote Bones Rock!, a children's book about the history of paleontology and requirements on how to become a paleontologist. [3]

Journal articles

Books

Legacy

Larson has developed a controversial standing in his field as the majority of academic paleontologists object to any organization's commercial selling of fossils. [3] [4] On the other hand, Larson has published scientific papers about dinosaurs and has contributed to community outreach programs, such as teaching inmates about paleontology while serving his two-year prison sentence in Federal prison. [15]

The benefits and drawbacks of selling fossils has been a topic for more than 100 years between academic and professional paleontologists throughout the 20th century. Collaborative work created the primary collections that introduced the public to dinosaurs, but also introduced the idea of fiscal value to resources that some argue fall into the public domain. Academics who reject the practice claim that the high prices that fossils like "Sue" bring in the marketplace prevent public institutions from competing, as private landowners see their fossils as "crops" and are less likely to donate them. [16]

Larson has gained some supporters in academia. Robert Bakker, Curator of Paleontology for the Houston Museum of Natural Science, described Larson in 1996 as a responsible paleontologist. [2]

Society of Vertebrate Paleontologists

The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) wrote a formal letter to United States Attorney Kevin Schieffer, endorsing the Federal government's raid of Larson's company, The Black Hills Institute, and seizure of "Sue". At the time, Robert Hunt Jr. of the University of Nebraska, secretary-treasurer of the SVP, stated that "America's national heritage of fossils is being bled away by commercial operations, which should be stopped." [13]

Related Research Articles

<i>Tyrannosaurus</i> Genus of Late Cretaceous theropod

Tyrannosaurus is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The type species Tyrannosaurus rex, often called T. rex or colloquially T-Rex, is one of the best represented theropods. It lived throughout what is now western North America, on what was then an island continent known as Laramidia. Tyrannosaurus had a much wider range than other tyrannosaurids. Fossils are found in a variety of rock formations dating to the Maastrichtian age of the Upper Cretaceous period, 72.7 to 66 million years ago. It was the last known member of the tyrannosaurids and among the last non-avian dinosaurs to exist before the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.

<i>Tarbosaurus</i> Tyrannosaurid dinosaur genus from Late Cretaceous of Mongolia

Tarbosaurus is a genus of tyrannosaurine theropod dinosaur that lived in Asia about 70 million years ago, during the Maastrichtian age at the end of the Late Cretaceous period, considered to contain a single known species: Tarbosaurus bataar. Fossils have been recovered from the Nemegt Formation of Mongolia, with more fragmentary remains found further afield in the Subashi Formation of China.

<i>Giganotosaurus</i> Carcharodontosaurid dinosaur genus from the late Cretaceous period

Giganotosaurus is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Argentina, during the early Cenomanian age of the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 99.6 to 95 million years ago. The holotype specimen was discovered in the Candeleros Formation of Patagonia in 1993 and is almost 70% complete. The animal was named Giganotosaurus carolinii in 1995; the genus name translates to "giant southern lizard", and the specific name honors the discoverer, Ruben Carolini. A dentary bone, a tooth, and some tracks, discovered before the holotype, were later assigned to this animal. The genus attracted much interest and became part of a scientific debate about the maximum sizes of theropod dinosaurs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museum of the Rockies</span> General History Museum in Montana, United States

Museum of the Rockies is a museum in Bozeman, Montana. Originally affiliated with Montana State University in Bozeman, and now also, the Smithsonian Institution. The museum is largely known for its Paleontological collections as well as having the largest collection of North American Dinosaur fossils in the United States. They also possess the largest Tyrannosaurus skull ever discovered, as well as the thigh bone of a Tyrannosaurus Rex that contains soft-tissue remains. The museum is part of the Montana Dinosaur Trail and is Montana's official repository for Paleontological specimens.

Susan Hendrickson is an American explorer and fossil collector. Hendrickson is best known for her discovery of the remains of a Tyrannosaurus rex in South Dakota on August 12, 1990, in the Cheyenne River Reservation. Her discovery is the most complete skeleton of Tyrannosaurus known to science. This skeleton is now known as "Sue" in honor of her. It is on display at the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois. She has also found other important fossils and artifacts around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sue (dinosaur)</span> Very complete Tyrannosaurus rex fossil

Sue is the nickname given to FMNH PR 2081, which is one of the largest, most extensive, and best preserved Tyrannosaurus rex specimens ever found, at over 90 percent recovered by bulk. FMNH PR 2081 was discovered on August 12, 1990, by American explorer and fossil collector Sue Hendrickson, and was named after her.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stan (dinosaur)</span> Tyrannosaurus rex specimen

"Stan", also known by its inventory number BHI 3033, is a Tyrannosaurus rex fossil found in the Hell Creek Formation in South Dakota, just outside of Buffalo in 1987, and excavated in 1992. It is the fifth most complete T. rex fossil discovered to date, at more than 70% bulk. In October 2020, the fossil was sold for $31.8 million at auction, making it the most expensive dinosaur specimen and fossil ever sold. In March 2022 Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism stated that they had acquired Stan and were planning on displaying the fossil at a new museum of natural history scheduled to open in 2025.

Specimens of <i>Tyrannosaurus</i>

Tyrannosaurus is one of the most iconic dinosaurs and is known from numerous specimens, some of which have individually acquired notability due to their scientific significance and media coverage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Hills Institute of Geological Research</span>

The Black Hills Institute of Geological Research, Inc. (BHI) is a private corporation specializing in the excavation and preparation of fossils, as well as the sale of both original fossil material and museum-quality replicas. Founded in 1974 and based in Hill City, South Dakota, the company is most famous for excavating and selling replicas of some of the most complete specimens of Tyrannosaurus rex, including "Sue", "Stan" and "Trix".

Valley of the T. rex is a Discovery Channel documentary, featuring paleontologist Jack Horner, that aired on September 10, 2001. The program shows Horner with his digging team as they travel to Hell Creek Formation in search for dinosaur fossils, while also following Horner as he presents his view of the theropod dinosaur Tyrannosaurus rex as a scavenger rather than a predator, as it is often portrayed in popular culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Battey</span> American judge

Richard Howard Battey was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of South Dakota.

<i>Raptorex</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Raptorex is a potentially dubious genus of tyrannosaurid dinosaur. Its fossil remains consist of a single juvenile specimen probably uncovered in Mongolia, or possibly northeastern China. The type species is R. kriegsteini, described in 2009 by Sereno and colleagues. The genus name is derived from Latin raptor, "robber", and rex, "king". The specific name honours Roman Kriegstein, a survivor of the Holocaust, whose son Henry Kriegstein donated the specimen to the University of Chicago for scientific study.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fossil trade</span> Trade involving fossils

The fossil trade is the purchase and sale of fossils. This is at times done illegally with stolen fossils, and important scientific specimens are lost each year. The trade is lucrative, and many celebrities collect fossils.

<i>Dinosaur 13</i> 2014 American film

Dinosaur 13 is a 2014 American documentary film directed and produced by Todd Douglas Miller. The film premiered in competition category of U.S. Documentary Competition program at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 16, 2014.

<i>United States v. One Tyrannosaurus Bataar Skeleton</i> 2013 US federal court case

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 Mongolian Tarbosaurus skeleton related to smuggling law and the applicability of Mongolian law in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trix (dinosaur)</span> Tyrannosaurus rex specimen

Trix is a Tyrannosaurus rex specimen excavated in 2013 in Montana, United States by a team of paleontologists from the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, the Netherlands and Black Hills institute of Geological Research in South Dakota. This Tyrannosaurus, over thirty years old – the oldest known Tyrannosaurus specimen – lived about 67 million years ago. It is considered to be the third most complete Tyrannosaurus found, with between 78% and 80% of its bone volume recovered. The specimen was named Trix after the former Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. It is one of only two Tyrannosaurus specimens on permanent exhibit in mainland Europe. The other one is a specimen named Tristan on exhibit at the Natural History Museum of Berlin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big John (dinosaur)</span> Auctioned Triceratops fossil

Big John is a fossilized Triceratops horridus skeleton discovered in South Dakota's Hell Creek geological formation in 2014. It is the largest known Triceratops skeleton, according to the team that assembled the fossil. Big John's 2021 auction price of €6.6 million made it the most expensive Triceratops skeleton; its high price signaled increasing demand for dinosaur fossils among private collectors and prompted discussion about the drawbacks of private fossil ownership for scientific research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Titus (dinosaur)</span> Dinosaur specimen

Titus is an obsidian black skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex discovered in the Hell Creek Formation, Montana, United States in 2014 and excavated in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scotty (dinosaur)</span> Dinosaur specimen

Scotty is the nickname for the Tyrannosaurus rex fossil, catalogued as RSM P2523.8, that was discovered in Saskatchewan, Canada in 1991. The fossilised remains were painstakingly removed, almost completely by hand, over two decades from the rock in which they were embedded. When the preparation was complete in 2011, a ~65% complete T. rex skeleton was revealed.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Escobedo, Tricia (2014-12-11). "When the feds seized a T-Rex". CNN. Retrieved 2023-09-09.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Browne, Malcolm (February 22, 1996). "Fossil Dealer, Target of Federal Prosecutors, Begins Jail Term". New York Times. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Mullen, William (January 21, 2003). "Bones of contention: Academics and commercial fossil hunters may never settle their differences". Chicago Tribune.
  4. 1 2 Rooney, Brian (Nov 13, 2007). "Racing Against Time and Weather for Dinosaur Bones". ABC News. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 Crow, Kelly (21 October 2020). "The Family Feud Behind a $32 Million T. Rex Named Stan". The Wall Street Journal.
  6. 1 2 3 Fiffer, Steve (2000). Tyrannosaurus Sue . W. H. Freeman and Company, New York. ISBN   0-7167-4017-6. Chapter 12 "Everything Changed that Day".
  7. 1 2 Regalado, Anthony (24 March 1995). "Fossil dealers innocent--And guilty". Vol. 267, no. 5205. Science.
  8. ↑ Kjærgaard, Peter C. (June 2012). "The Fossil Trade: Paying a Price for Human Origins". Isis. 103 (2): 340–355. doi:10.1086/666365. JSTOR   10.1086/666365. PMID   22908426. S2CID   145769119.
  9. ↑ Harrod, Horatia (August 9, 2014). "The curse of the $8 million dinosaur: In 1990, a group of small-time fossil hunters discovered the world's most valuable T rex. They also uncovered a legal nightmare". The Telegraph . Archived from the original on September 5, 2018. Retrieved June 6, 2019. Although Larson is only now studying for his PhD in palaeontology – under the supervision of Dr Phil Manning – he has always attempted to collect all the relevant scientific information during his digs.
  10. ↑ "Curse of the T.Rex". Public Broadcasting Service. 25 February 1997.
  11. ↑ Smith, Matt (June 4, 2013). "Triceratops trio unearthed in Wyoming". CNN. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  12. ↑ Alden, John (August 11, 2002). "'Rex Appeal' - one historic fossil, three stories". The Baltimore Sun.
  13. 1 2 Browne, Malcolm W. (July 21, 1992). "A Dinosaur Named Sue Divides Fossil Hunters". New York Times.
  14. ↑ Switek, Brian (23 October 2013). "(News Feature) Palaeontology: The truth about T. rex". Nature. 502 (7472): 424–426. doi: 10.1038/502424a . PMID   24153276.
  15. ↑ Lidz, Gogo (20 July 2014). "In the World of Big Lizards, Peter Larson is a Big Name". Newsweek.
  16. ↑ Jacobs, Julia; Small, Zachary (2022-11-23). "As Dinosaur Fossils Fetch Millions, There's Many a Bone to Pick". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2023-01-08.
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