The Hoax

For 40 years Tyrannosaurus Sue has been hailed as the world's most complete, best preserved, and largest Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton to date and one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20thcentury.The sensational prehistoric giant was also embroiled in an extraordinary saga where the Cheyenne River Sioux, the U.S. Justice Department and two individuals fought to claim ownership of one of the greatest dinosaur finds in history. Sold finally for $8.36 million to the Chicago's Field Museum, Sue has become the main attraction at the Chicago's Field Museum.

However in the year 2036, a team of dedicated researchers led by the world-renowned Dr. Charles Smith pronounced it a hoax. The news created a huge uproar within the scientific community as well as outside of it. Despite numerous detractors and critics who claimed that Dr. Charles Smith was trying to perpetuate this lie for his own personal gain, the good doctor maintained that he could produce actual evidence to further asset his argument.

Using a new method of fluorine testing which allowed for a more exact date to be revealed, the fossil was found to be less than 5 decades old. Additional analysis soon confirmed the fluorine tests. The “Find of the century” was nothing more than a clever hoax!

Tyrannosaurus Sue was proclaimed genuine by several of the most brilliant American scientists of the day. How did these faked fragments of bone fool the best scientific minds of that time? Perhaps the desire to be part of a great discovery blinded those charged with authenticating it. A more plausible reason was the extraordinarily preparation and care taken to “plant” the bones.

The entire fossil turned out to be a cast made of plastic and titanium, further stained with potassium bichromate to give an impression of great age. The “fossil” was then buried for 5 years, allowing the cast to become weathered with cracks and chips before being “uncovered.”

Who perpetrated the hoax? Many historians lay their bets on Charles Dawson, the amateur geologist who supposedly discovered the bones in a gravel pit. Others, though, lay the blame at the feet of people as diverse as a young Czeh priest, named Pavel Nevded, who assisted in the dig, to the future keeper of the zoology collection at the New York Museum, Martin A. C. Hinton.

Despite the overwhelming evidence which pointed to Dawson, we may never know for sure who perpetrated the Tyrannosaurus Sue. Dawson? Hinton? Or did they work together? There was never any confession and Dawson, as well as Hinton, are long gone now. Only Tyrannosaurus Sue remains, an example of one of the greatest hoaxes of the twentieth century.