Book Review 2019-008
The Dinosaur Artist: Obsession, Betrayal, and the Quest for Earth's Ultimate Trophy by Paige Williams
2018 by Hachette, 381 pages
(We purchased a copy of this book via Pages).
This is a mostly incredibly interesting work of non-fiction that brings the reader to have to consider the question of Who should own the right to natural treasures. Dinosaur bones, for instance, have grown over the years to have tremendous value, as well as being status symbols. Is the person that discovers the bones the rightful owner? If they're on a dig for a museum, does that make it more defined than if they are out there on their own? What if they're digging to collect versus digging to sell commercially? And what about the lands from which they are dug--what rights do they maintain?
The main focus of this title is the case of Eric Prokopi and the 2012 auction of a T. bataar, a close relative of Tyrannosaurus Rex, skeleton. At issue was the fact that T. bataar skeletons have only been found in Mongolia, and as of 1924 Mongolia has banned the sale, or export, of fossils found in their nation. We note the main focus because while telling that story, Williams tells many stories including a history of paleontology, a history of what are referred to as commercial fossil dealers, and the history of Mongolia. Some of these details are fascinating and feel like essential wanderings from the main story, while one or two feel like unnecessary deviations, but truthfully, we think that simply comes down to interests--these obviously interested Williams enough to dig into them and share them; they just didn't hit us the same way.
We learn of Prokopi's early interest in fossils and shark teeth and Williams allows readers to learn some of the tricks of the trade by detailing Prokopi's learning how to make molds of bones, how to put skeletons together in a way to be displayed, on up to his business dealings. These dealings also allow the reader to see how at times collectors (commercial or otherwise) would side-step the truth when necessary. It was one of these side-steps, declaring bones he was receiving that originated in Mongolia as coming from England where his purchasing partner was, and declaring their value at a number much less than what he eventually would have seen had the auction money gone to him.Williams allows the reader to travel along with Prokopi to Mongolia and learn how dealings would occur with Mongolian paleontologists acting as guides into the Gobi Desert and as intermediaries for the movement of the bones.
One of the most interesting aspects of this novel to us was the looking at the relationship between paleontologists and commercial fossil hunters. While paleontologists frequently look down upon commercial fossil hunters, the truth is that a great deal of what we have learned in this field comes via the help of hunters and not men or woman of official science. When the legal case that is the big plot in this book was taking place, there were plenty of paleontologists coming to the aid of Prokopi in terms of the things he'd found and brought alight in the fossil world. Maybe the best chapter in the book discusses Mary Anning, a 19th Century fossil hunter whose finds in England ended up in museums, and with Kings, all through Europe. From toward the end of the book:
In 2017, Mary Anning got a new museum wing in the refurbished redbrick museum on Cockmoile Square in Lyme Regis. Many of her life mementos are on display there. Her paleontological discoveries can still be seen at the Natural History Museum in London, and her grave can be visited in the St. Michael's churchyard in Lyme, overlooking the sea.
This is a woman that rarely had more then just enough to keep herself in home and food, not some university learned scholar. And while she's most likely the best-case scenario for cases like this, many other collectors contributed to great finds over the years.
The main thread though, the plot line that does run from beginning to end is that of Prokopi purchasing the vast majority of bones necessary to build and display a T. bataar. Through false documentation on his shipping of these to America, he skirted the Mongolian laws regarding their natural history. Upon molding some needed bones, cleaning up the rest and putting together a full displayed skeleton, he used Heritage Auctions in order to sell the work. The problems began when the wrong people (for Prokopi) saw that a T. bataar was being auctioned off. Bolor Minjin was a Mongolian paleontologist and she got the higher ups in Mongolia to push for the stoppage of the sale and the return of the dinosaur skeleton to its rightful home. This led to United States of America v. One Tyrannosaurs Bataar Skeleton. Once it became obvious to him where things were headed, Prokopi plead guilty and told all he knew to the prosecutors, ending up getting a short amount of prison time and some probation. He only issued one statement at the time:
I'm just a guy...trying to support my family--not some international bone smuggler.
And through sharing his life, Williams allows the reader to feel for him. However, it came down to the fact that he willingly changed information on documents and allowed the auction to go on even after being warned. His story led to an extremely interesting, and very well done, book.
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