Exporting Dinosaur Bones

Special Challenge

Strict regulations limit the export of artifacts from a country of origin. The completion of Argentinean clearances took two years.

More than sixteen tons of dinosaur bones, some massive, arrived in Philadelphia after five years of excavation by Drexel University students. The fossils, belonging to the second largest dinosaur ever discovered, were uncovered in the remote southern-most region of Patagonia, Argentina. The physical movement of the dinosaur bones was a study in ingenuity. More than two hundred thirty pieces were floor loaded and stacked amid rubber tires into containers without the use of heavy lifting equipment under the supervision of customs officials who flown in from Buenos Aires.