A rainy-day trip to Hill City to visit the Black Hills Institute Museum continued our education about many more of the fantasmogorical creatures that preceded us on earth by millions of years, and the dedicated paleontologists who spend their lives excavating and preparing their remains for exhibit.
The Black Hills Institute is recognized as one of the premier organizations conducting and assisting with paleontology excavations in the Black Hills. Many of the most important discoveries of the last 40 years have been made by their paleontologists. The Institute does paleontological field work as well as fossil preparation. In the Hill City Museum, there are a number of original fossils of everything from the iconic Tyrannosaurus Rex to the remains of small creatures that none of us has ever heard of. It is the home of STAN, the "largest and most complete complete (65% real bone) T. rex available to science," which was found near Buffalo, WY.
Discovered in 1987, excavation of STAN T.rex began in 1992 and required over 30,000 hours of work to prepare the skeleton for exhibition. Cast copies of STAN are available for sale, and can be assembled in various poses in accordance with the wishes of the purchaser.
There is also a connection to Sue, or T.rex 13, aka FMNH-PR 2081, perhaps the most famous T-Rex of at least recent times. Discovered in 1990 on a private ranch on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation near Faith, South Dakota, and named for the paleontologist who discovered her, Sue is characterized as the "largest, most extensive and best preserved Tyrannosaurus rex specimen ever found at over 90% recovered by bulk." Sue, since 2000 has been a resident of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, which supposedly paid $8.4 million for the artifacts. She has long been a subject of controversy. While the Black Hills Institute was processing the artifacts, Federal agents seized the fossil in 1992, alleging that the BHI had taken it from federal trust land.
There was a documentary called Dinosaur 13 that was released in 2014 and deals with the controversy and issues surrounding Sue. It is a complex issue, but supposedly the landowner sold the bones to Black Hills Institute for $5,000 and didn't consult the Bureau of Indian Affairs; the dig site was located on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation and the land was being held in trust for the landowner. That's all pretty complicated, but you can read even more if you follow the trail on Google. Here is the Black Hills Institute's version of the story.
Discovered in 1987, excavation of STAN T.rex began in 1992 and required over 30,000 hours of work to prepare the skeleton for exhibition. Cast copies of STAN are available for sale, and can be assembled in various poses in accordance with the wishes of the purchaser.
There is also a connection to Sue, or T.rex 13, aka FMNH-PR 2081, perhaps the most famous T-Rex of at least recent times. Discovered in 1990 on a private ranch on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation near Faith, South Dakota, and named for the paleontologist who discovered her, Sue is characterized as the "largest, most extensive and best preserved Tyrannosaurus rex specimen ever found at over 90% recovered by bulk." Sue, since 2000 has been a resident of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, which supposedly paid $8.4 million for the artifacts. She has long been a subject of controversy. While the Black Hills Institute was processing the artifacts, Federal agents seized the fossil in 1992, alleging that the BHI had taken it from federal trust land.
There was a documentary called Dinosaur 13 that was released in 2014 and deals with the controversy and issues surrounding Sue. It is a complex issue, but supposedly the landowner sold the bones to Black Hills Institute for $5,000 and didn't consult the Bureau of Indian Affairs; the dig site was located on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation and the land was being held in trust for the landowner. That's all pretty complicated, but you can read even more if you follow the trail on Google. Here is the Black Hills Institute's version of the story.
A cast of the skull of Sue is displayed at BHI, along with a recreation of the dig site where Sue was discovered. It's a fascinating exhibit.
Most of these articles are not petrified. Instead, like the mammoths in Hot Springs, SD, and the skeletons being excavated in Glenrock, WY, the artifacts are bone…fragile and easily damaged. When they are removed from the earth, they must be carefully preserved. The BHI has excavated many skeletons in the Black Hills, preserved them, and in many cases made casts from which more copies can be made and sold. Many of the creatures displayed in the BHI are casts made from the originals, which are on display all over the world. Here are a few more that left us open-mouthed with wonder.
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| Scaphitid Ammonites from South Dakota and Wyoming |
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| The largest sea turtle skeleton ever found |
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| Stegosaurus skeleton |
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| Original T-Rex skull..at 800 lbs. too heavy to be mounted on the STAN display above; a cast was used instead |
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