onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Fossils as cultural heritage: Scientific, commercial and legislative issues

Fossils are among the principal sources for understanding the history of life through ‘Deep Time’ and can inform projections of biotic responses to environmental change. Despite a widespread recognit....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

BREAKING: The U.S. gov't seems to have seized the largest Martian meteorite on Earth---yes, the one that fetched five a record $5m at Sotheby's in 2025---on suspicion of unlawful import into the country. The announcement is...quite something; watch at your own risk: www.facebook.com/judgejeanine...

Natural history specimens are #culturalproperty. If you have an idea for a paper that drives this point home, @profdonnayates.bsky.social and I want to hear from you for our special issue in the International Journal of Cultural Property. Find the #cfp here: paul-stewens.com/news/cfp-nat...

Summer is a calmer period for many academics. Why not take some time to rethink your #knowledge organisation? If you want to ditch the cluttered desktop and the PDFs in folders in folders in folders, I got something for you: paul-stewens.com/news/obsidia... @academic-chatter.bsky.social

Paul P. Stewens | How to use Obsidian as a researcher

I built a comprehensive guide that can help you become a more productive, efficient, and relaxed academic.

paul-stewens.com

Last week, someone paid $50m for a T. rex. That's crazy. Natural history objects have become financial #assets for the ultra-rich and are praised as #investments rather than as scientific specimens. Read my thoughts on the sale and its implications here: paul-stewens.com/blog/2026/di...

Paul P. Stewens | Dinosaur fossils as financial assets: the $50m T. rex ‘Gus’ auction

Dinosaur fossils are becoming investments, and their importance as financial assets begins to displace their scientific significance.

paul-stewens.com

@swarmofthoughts.bsky.social raises an important issue here. Many (int'l) journals have published on fossils from occupied Crimea, which the authors claim to come from Russia. The inconsistent adherence to ethical standards by the @jvertpaleo.bsky.social is, of course, extra disappointing. [1/3]

Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲@swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 3mo ago

@jvertpaleo.bsky.social I remember you were an early adopter of the ban on Burmese amber #fossils, which was admirable, thus it supper disappointing to see you publish fossils from occupied parts of Ukraine @p-stewens.bsky.social @lmhaertel.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Höchste Zeit, dass auch auf Deutsch über #IrritatorBelongstoBR berichtet wird! Shout-out an @luilog.bsky.social, die mit diesem tollen Artikel hoffentlich den ersten Schritt zu einer breiten Berichterstattung in deutschen Medien getan hat...

Letícia Haertel@lmhaertel.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Was für ein großartiger Bericht von @luilog.bsky.social! Es ist selten, dass deutsche Medien den kolonialen und extraktivistischen Hintergrund solcher Fälle thematisieren. Definitiv lesenswert. #IrritatorBelongsToBR

#IrritatorBelongstoBR - but will the fossil be returned, or "handed over"? The German and Portuguese versions of the Joint Declaration don't agree. This is more than a footnote; the framing tells us a lot about how Western institutions and gov'ts struggle to acknowledge original ownership. [1/3]

Aline Ghilardi@alinemghilardi.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Tivemos uma atualização, pessoal: 😌

ICYMI: #IrritatorBelongstoBR goes international! I'm hoping for many int'l and German media outlets to follow @science.org and @theguardian.com in reporting about this case. I've done a few interviews (incl. with The Guardian) already, so if you're a journalist looking for a good story, hit me up!

The Guardian@theguardian.com · 5mo ago

German museum to return rare Irritator dinosaur skull to Brazil

Aaaaand #IrritatorBelongstoBR makes it into @theguardian.com! Excellent piece of reporting with quotes from (almost) all the right people and a thorough engagement with the ethical, legal, and political questions surrounding the return. An absolute must-read!

Aline Ghilardi@alinemghilardi.bsky.social · 5mo ago

www.science.org/content/arti... #IrritatorBelongstoBR

Finally some high-level news coverage for #IrritatorBelongstoBR!

Taylor Mitchell Brown@tmitchellbrown.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Irritator challengeri, the best preserved Spinosaurus skull ever discovered, is finally heading home to Brazil! The announcement comes years after tireless attempts from Brazilian scholars to see the fossil repatriated from a German museum. #Paleontology #Spinosaurus 🧪🧪 New at @science.org

The #fossil of Irritator challengeri is finally going back to Brazil after 35 years in Germany. This is a major event for #DecolonizeScience and the #restitution of natural history specimens. Let's talk about #IrritatorBelongstoBR. [1/17]

🦖⚖️ Major dinosaur repatriation news: Irritator is finally going home! After years of tireless work by @alinemghilardi.bsky.social and colleagues, #IrritatorBelongstoBR is finally becoming reality. This is a milestone for decolonising palaeontology; thread to follow very soon!

Aline Ghilardi@alinemghilardi.bsky.social · 5mo ago

🚨🚨ATENÇÃO, GALERINHA! 🚨🚨 Tá vindo aí: www.gov.br/mre/pt-br/ca...

Why does (almost) nobody talk about #restitution in natural history museums? After all, paleontological/botanical/mineralogical specimens are cultural property under #internationallaw and often have a dark past. My new #OA paper deconstructs this false dichotomy. [1/13] 🔗 doi.org/10.1080/1028...

A tale of two museums: restitution and the genealogy of the false dichotomy between natural history museums and cultural museums

Museums housing cultural artifacts have long faced restitution claims while these are only beginning to affect natural history museums. Conversely, the law on cultural property restitution does not...

doi.org

I'm going to come out as a total @obsidian.md fanboy. It has helped me transform my #research organisation and workflow, to a point where I even use it to write my manuscripts. Ditch Microsoft Word, the cool kids do their #academic writing in Obsidian! Full guide: paul-stewens.com/blog/2026/ac...

Paul P. Stewens | The definitive guide to academic writing with Obsidian and Pandoc

Write your manuscripts where you have all your notes, generate fully referenced papers from them and leave Microsoft Word for good.

paul-stewens.com

It's been a pleasant surprise to have been approached by @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social to collaborate on this project, and a great honour to get to contribute to this piece of meaningful scholarship. Thanks for getting me on board! P.S.: Viktor's thread is a great teaser for what's to come...

Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲@swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 8mo ago

We submitted a manuscript ,dealing with impacts of war and colonialism on geodiversity of #Ukraine. I am not at liberty to discuss unpublished research - but I want to highlight some published sources and amplify Ukrainian voices, and impact of war on #fossils in UA @nataliajagielska.bsky.social

The export of #fossils from #Morocco is illegal without a permit---no matter how much fossil market actors and predatory palaeontologists want this not to be true. Check my latest publication on the new EU Regulation on the import of cultural property: doi.org/10.48640/tf....

Found out that my new #OA paper "A classification unearthed: the history of palaeontological objects as cultural property in international law" is currently the most read piece in the London Review of International Law! If you're curious what the hype is all about: doi.org/10.1093/lril...

Fossils are cultural objects - and this is not some woke b*llshit that people come up nowadays to spoil the fun in #palaeontology; this classification actually has a long history. If you're curious how fossils became #culturalproperty under int'l law, check my new paper: doi.org/10.1093/lril...

A classification unearthed: the history of palaeontological objects as cultural property in international law

Abstract. Fossils are an overlooked yet threatened category of cultural property. This article traces how they became protected by international law under

doi.org

This is HUGE. Unconditional #repatriation of 28,000 fossils from the Dubois collection to Indonesia. Largest ever fossil and perhaps natural history #restitution (AFAIK). Famous #hominin fossil included. Lots of things to unpack, here are some preliminary thoughts. /1

Naturalis Biodiversity Center@naturalis.bsky.social · last yr.

Nederland geeft fossielen Dubois-collectie terug aan Indonesië. Statement en meer informatie te vinden op www.naturalis.nl/persberichte...

I'm going back to #Geneva! As the 2024 Lalive Merryman Fellow, I'll be working on the legal classification of #hominin fossils as #humanremains between 22/09 and 17/10. If you're in GVA during that time and/or curious about my research project, please (re-)connect! paul-stewens.com/news/fellows...

Many people have sent me the CNN piece on trade in 🇲🇦 fossils. It does many things well; picking interviewees is not one of them. No legal experts, only palaeontologists repeating legal factoids. Please read my comment. 🌐CNN: edition.cnn.com/2025/08/15/s... ✒️Blog: paul-stewens.com/blog/2025/mo...

Wholeheartedly agree with Emma. The piece is a really mixed bag: very comprehensive, topical, and timely, but with a selection of experts that I find partially questionable. Call me crazy, but I do think that a piece about the legality of the fossil trade should include legal experts. [cont'd]

Emma Dunne@emmadnn.bsky.social · last yr.

Great to see an interrogation of the sources of commercial fossils, especially from Morocco 🦖🇲🇦 But utterly disappointing to see the platforming of people who have repeatedly and openly flouted (inter)national laws. Not a legal (or ethics) expert in sight 🤦‍♀️ [1] edition.cnn.com/2025/08/15/s...

Passionate about #restitution? Curious about what it means for natural history #museums? Then this event is for you! I'll be speaking at the @mnhn.fr on 3 June 2025 about this very issue - and you can join my hybrid lecture from anywhere! More info: paul-stewens.com/news/lecture...

@alinemghilardi.bsky.social is leading another effort to bring the Irritator challengeri holotype back to Brazil. In support of #IrritatorBelongstoBR, I've written up a bit of background on the case, as well as some of my own thoughts. Make sure to check it out! paul-stewens.com/blog/2025/ir...

This is a beautiful, concise review of absolutely trailblazing research by the people who got me seriously interested in Law and Palaeontology back in 2021. You’ve done so much, against all odds, for the discipline and for me, and I deeply respect you for it!

Emma Dunne@emmadnn.bsky.social · last yr.

When @mauritiantales.bsky.social and I began leading this study, we never thought it would get 10 citations let alone the 200 it reached his week! But what started almost 5 years ago as a lockdown data project has taken us on an unimaginable rollercoaster... (1/n) www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Crucial point by @skyemcdavid.com: the social media campaign for #IrritatorBelongstoBR should target the gov't of Baden-Württemberg, not the @smnstuttgart.bsky.social (or the 🇩🇪 federal gov't). Remember: for #UbirajaraBelongstoBR, the gov't even overruled the museum, which had refused the return.

Skye McDavid@skyemcdavid.com · last yr.

I agree Irritator should be repatriated, but the social media campaign should really be focusing on the State government of Baden-Württemberg rather than the museum, since the museum can't legally take action on its own.

Essential thread by @alinemghilardi.bsky.social about #IrritatorBelongstoBR. There was so much support for repatriation when we pushed for it in 2023 - and it’s high time that this is put back on the agenda; the fossil HAS to go back. Detailed legal background: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Aline Ghilardi@alinemghilardi.bsky.social · last yr.

Have you heard the story of the Brazilian dinosaur Irritator challengeri? 🦖🇧🇷 This dinosaur, a relative of Spinosaurus from the Cretaceous of northeastern Brazil 🌵🇧🇷, had its fossil remains taken to Germany 🇩🇪 — and that’s where they remain to this day. Let’s talk about it? ⚒️🧪 #IrritatorBelongstoBR

Remember the potentially forged #mosasaur jaw? I've turned my thread into a blog post, so if you're interested in the extended version, the director's cut, then here's the link: paul-stewens.com/blog/2025/xe...

Paul Stewens@p-stewens.bsky.social · 2y ago

Another day, another case of questionable practices in #palaeontology. In the news today: Xenodens calminechari, a mosasaurid with "unique" dentition that was described from Moroccan #fossil material in 2021. Let's talk fossil trafficking, forgery, and accessibility of specimens, shall we? Thread /1

Happening today at 1.00 pm (CET), title slide for a teaser!

Paul Stewens@p-stewens.bsky.social · 2y ago

Event announcement! Next Wednesday (12 March), I'll tell you why it's not productive to think of natural history and cultural property as two separate worlds. The talk will be online at 1.00 pm (CET), so feel free to join me over lunch! For all relevant information: paul-stewens.com/news/talk-na...