🦖⚖️ 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!
The backstory to this paper felt important enough to me to turn it into a blog post which you can read here:
🔗 paul-stewens.com/blog/2026/re...
Happy to discuss any and all question relating to the #restitution of #naturalhistory specimens, so don't be a stranger! [13/13]
Blurry picture of a T. rex skull
Blurry picture of a Triceratops skull
Blurry sepia picture of a pterosaur skeleton
And today, I feel like I've come full circle: from an excited 12-year-old boy taking blurry pictures of fossils, to a researcher revisiting 15 years of museum visits to advocate for an integrated cultural property restitution debate. [12/13]
Façade of the Natural History Museum Vienna
Selfie of Paul Stewens in front of dinosaur skulls
Picture of Paul Stewens in front of a glass case with a replica of the Berlin Archaeopteryx specimen. He wears a t-shirt with a print of that specimen, points at it and smiles.
In 2011, the @nhmwien.bsky.social was the first natural history museum I ever visited and I still get goosebumps when I recall wandering what felt like neverending exhibition halls filled with wonders as a child. I've come back many a time over the years. [11/13]
I'm proud of this paper, and it feels quite personal, too. It builds on thoughts and experiences that span years of engagement with these issues; I've visited most museums which I mention in the article; and the @nhmwien.bsky.social occupies a special place, both in my argument and my heart. [10/13]
We're therfore looking at two disconntected historical trajectories: one of institutional and intellectual fragmentation, another one of holistic legal protection. Understanding this genealogy is crucial to overcoming this dichotomy to advance #justice across *all* areas of cultural property. [9/13]
Adriaen van Stalbemt or Hieronymus Francken the Younger (ca. 1650), The Sciences and the Arts (Museo del Prado)
The #law protecting #culturalproperty, on the other hand, has always followed a holistic approach that included works of #art and #science alike. It was always about the special regard in which humans hold an object, be it a Picasso or a Psittacosaurus. [8/13]
Carl (Karl) Ledermann jun., 1., Maria-Theresien-Platz - Blick gegen Heldenplatz, Panoramaansichtskarte, before 1905
We find the perfect embodiment of this dichotomy in Vienna where the @nhmwien.bsky.social and the Museum of Fine Arts face each other on Maria-Theresien-Platz in an architectural ensemble that frames nature and culture as parallel but separate worlds. [7/13]
Frontispiece of Musei Wormiani Historia
Reconstruction of the Museum Wormianum in the NHM Copenhagen
To me, the #history of the #museum is one of disintegration: from the eclectic Wunderkammer of the Renaissance that held all kinds of objects to the displinary museum of the Enlightenment where each class of objects got its own space. Taxonomy and rationalism drove the Wunderkammer apart. [6/13]
And yet, I felt that something else was keeping these debates apart: a firm demarcation line separating natural history museums from cultural museums, a subliminal sense of two different institutional "worlds" with little to no overlap. And I got curious where that dichtomy came from. [5/13]
But that wasn't enough. I felt that for these debates to be joined, I had to show not only *that* fossils were cultural property, but also *why* that was the case—and that there are good reasons for that. I found such reasons in the UN Archives in Geneva. [4/13]
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/lril...
I made a case for considering fossils and 'conventional' cultural artifacts jointly regarding restitution: because int'l law classifies both as cultural objects, and because contexts of #injustice (like colonialism) affect(ed) both arts and sciences. [3/13]
🔗 voelkerrechtsblog.org/two-ways-of-...
When I began to explore fossil restitution cases with @emmadnn.bsky.social, @alinemghilardi.bsky.social, @cisneros.bsky.social and others back in 2021, I soon came to wonder: Why this strict, entrenched separation between #naturalhistory and #culturalheritage in #restitution debates? [2/13]
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...
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...
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...
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....
Screenshot of the 'Most Read'articles section from the London Review of International Law, published by Oxford Academic. The list includes articles on palaeontological objects as cultural property, international law and Gaza, transitional justice and decolonisation, the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885, and the global attack on academic freedom.
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...
There will be much more to say, esp. against the background of my research on the legal classification of hominin fossils. Watch this space for a blog post, and in the meantime, consider joining my upcoming lectures about human remains! /end
paul-stewens.com/news/
Java Man will now return as a fossil/cultural object, without any differential treatment on account of being a human ancestor. The fossils are not treated as human remains. This might be interesting for Zambia's struggle to return the Broken Hill skull from UK which they do claim as an ancestor. /6
The NL gov't also recognises that the fossils "held spiritual and economic value for local people". This puts the Dubois collection in the context of the debate surrounding the debate on colonial loot. Cultural & natural artifacts are two sides of the same coin. /5
www.government.nl/latest/news/...
I'm not aware of any other case where such a significant amount of fossils has been returned. This is an unprecedented, groundbreaking decision - and not only by the standards of natural history; I am not aware of any large-scale restitutions such as this one for art/antiquities, either. /4
Glass cases with a live reconstruction of homo erectus on the Java Man fossils side by side.
The heart of the collection are the skullcap, femur and molar of a Homo erectus ("Java Man") which local workers, directed by Dutch anatomist Eugène #Dubois discovered in the 1890s. I've seen the exhibit @naturalis.bsky.social and it brilliantly integrates the fossils with a live reconstruction. /3
The return is the result of an official request which the Indonesian government submitted in 2022. An independent commission has now recommended the return of the collection in light of the circumstances of their #colonial acquisition. /2
restitutionmatters.org/news-item/br...
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
Selfie of Paul Stewens in a green suit in front of the UN HQ in Geneva (Switzerland)
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...
Update: The post is online!
bsky.app/profile/p-st...
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...
In terms of substance, I take particular issue with the "legal gray area" argument and the allegedly imprecise wording of the 1970 UNESCO Convention. Expect a blog post. [fin]