Those Bones Named Sue

▪ 2001

      On May 17, 2000, Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History unveiled a display extraordinary not only for what it was—the largest (12.8 m [42 ft] long), most complete, and best-preserved Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever discovered—but also for its unlikely name, Sue. The approximately 67 million-year-old fossil, named in honour of Susan Hendrickson, who discovered it on Aug. 12, 1990, had made a difficult, decade-long journey to its new home, a journey that began on South Dakota's Cheyenne River Sioux reservation. Hendrickson and Peter Larson, of the Black Hills Institute for Geological Research, were prospecting there on a cattle ranch owned by Maurice Williams, who was one-fourth Native American and whose land was held in trust by the U.S. government for tax-relief purposes. Larson paid Williams $5,000 for the right to excavate the skeleton, had it shipped to the institute's Hill City, S.D., headquarters for restoration, and planned to build a museum to showcase it.

      As news traveled about the discovery, however, Larson began receiving sizable offers for it, and Williams, the Cheyenne River Sioux, and the federal government began to raise questions about its legal ownership and to seek its return. After federal agents seized the bones in 1992 on the grounds that government permission had not been granted for the removal of the fossil from federal lands, a convoluted battle for custody ensued. A U.S. district court ruled in April 1993 that the fossil was to remain property of the trust, and in October 1994 the U.S. Supreme Court let that ruling stand. Sue was to be the property of Williams and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).

      The BIA gave Williams permission to sell Sue and suggested that the fossil be auctioned, a controversial move in the eyes of many scientists, who feared the commercialization and possible private collection of scientifically important specimens. Nevertheless, in 1996 Sotheby's was chosen to conduct the sale, which was held on Oct. 4, 1997, with nine bidders in the running. After only about eight minutes, the Field Museum—backed by McDonald's Corp., Walt Disney World Resorts, and the California State University system—emerged the winner, purchasing Sue for $8,362,500. Disney was to be given a replica for exhibition at Walt Disney World, and McDonald's was to get two replicas that would be taken on tour. The remainder of Sue's preparation for display was carried out in the museum's McDonald's Fossil Preparation Laboratory in full view of spectators. Because the dinosaur's 1.5-m (5-ft)-long skull was too heavy (272 kg [600 lb]) for the skeleton to support, a life-size cast was used, while the actual head was displayed on the museum's second-floor balcony, where visitors could get a close-up view.

Barbara Whitney

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