Peter Larson

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 and graduated with a bachelor's degree in geology in 1974.[3]

Larson founded The Black Hills Institute of Geological Research, a private corporation specialising in the excavation and commercial sale of fossils, 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

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] Many other charges against Larson and other Black Hills associates for trafficking fossils from federal land were dismissed.[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]

The National Park Service had started an investigation into the Black Hills Institute for illegally collecting fossils on public lands five years prior to the "Sue" excavation.[1]

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]

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]

Larson and his brother began dividing The Black Hills Institute assets in 2018 after a circuit judge ruling from an ownership dispute that stemmed from Larson's brother's shares in the Black Hills Institute. The Black Hills Institute did not have enough cash for a buyout so the court ruled that his brother would receive the Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton "Stan" due to shareholder rights' violations. "Stan" was sold for $32 million in 2020.[5]

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]

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]

• Peter Larson at IMDb
• Black Hills Institute of Geological Research Inc. website