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....

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

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...

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On 27 January 2025, French customs seized nine fossilized teeth from Morocco in transit to Italy. This case study discusses the legal framework for the seizure and evaluates it in light of European Council Regulation 2019/880 and French domestic law. Moreover, it problematizes the determination of the fossils’ origin and the blurred distinction between paleontology and archaeology and examines their implications for the regulation of the illicit fossil trade. Despite their structural similarities with undocumented antiquities, fossils are not covered by the licensing scheme under Article 4. Regulation 2019/880 still allows EU Member States to enforce Morocco’s export restrictions but seizures such as this one might require fossil market actors to change established practices.

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

There is no legal grey area, and they don't have to belong to a collection.

On 3 June 2025, I will give a hybrid lecture at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle titled 'A Tale of Two Museums - Introducing the Issue of Restitution to Natural History Museums'.

There's a new social media campaign for the return of <i>Irritator challengeri</i> - and it's high time German institutions listened.

“Ubirajara” and Irritator Belong to Brazil: Achieving Fossil Returns Under German Private Law - Volume 30 Issue 3

The holotype specimen for this new mosasaur might have been forged - and there are legal doubts about its provenance.

Exploring the law of palaeontological objects, human remains, museums, and cultural artifacts