Although the buying, selling, and trading of fossils has been a principle part of paleontological practice over the centuries, the commercial collection of fossils today has re-emerged into a pervasive and lucrative industry. In the United States, the number of commercial companies driving the legal, and sometimes illegal, selling of fossils is estimated to have doubled since the 1980s, and worries from academic paleontologists over this issue has increased accordingly. Indeed, some view the commercialization of fossils as one of the greatest threats to paleontology today. In this article, I address the story of “Sue”—the largest, most complete, and most expensive Tyrannosaurus rex ever excavated—whose discovery incited a series of high-profile legal battles throughout the 1990s over the question of “Who owns Sue?” Over the course of a decade, various stakeholders from academic paleontologists and fossil dealers to Native Americans, private citizens, and government officials all laid claim to Sue. In exploring this case, I argue that assumptions of authority are responsible for initiating and sustaining debates over fossil access. Here, assumptions of authority are understood as assumptions of ownership, or expertise, or in some cases both. Viewing the story from this perspective illuminates the significance of fossils as boundary objects. It also highlights the process of boundary-work by which individuals and groups constructed or deconstructed borders around Sue (specifically) and fossil access (more generally) to establish their own authority. I draw on science studies scholarship as well as literature in the professionalization, commercialization, and valuation of science to examine how assumptions of authority facilitated one of the most divisive episodes in recent paleontological history and the broader debate on the commercial collection of vertebrate fossil material in the United Sates.

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权威的假设：霸王龙苏的故事以及对化石的获取之争

尽管数百年来化石的买卖，交易一直是古生物学实践的基本组成部分，但如今的化石商业化收藏已重新融入了无处不在的有利可图的行业。在美国，自1980年代以来，推动合法（有时是非法）化石销售的商业公司的数量估计增加了一倍，学术古生物学家对此问题的担忧也相应增加。确实，有些人将化石的商业化视为当今古生物学最大的威胁之一。在本文中，我将讲述“苏”的故事-最大，最完整，最昂贵的 霸王龙 曾被挖掘过吗？在1990年代，谁的发现引发了一系列关于“谁拥有苏（Sue）的问题”的著名法律斗争。在过去的十年中，从学术古生物学家和化石交易商到美洲原住民，私人公民和政府官员的各种利益相关者都向苏提出了要求。在探讨此案时，我认为权威假设是引发和维持有关化石获取的辩论的原因。在这里，权限假设被理解为所有权或专业知识的假设，或者在某些情况下两者兼而有之。从这个角度看故事，说明了化石作为边界物体的重要性。它还强调了边界工作的过程，通过该过程，个人和团体在Sue周围（特别是）和化石通道（更一般地）建立或取消了边界以建立自己的权威。我将利用科学研究的奖学金以及有关科学的专业化，商业化和科学评估方面的文献，来研究权威的假设如何促成最近古生物学史上最分裂的事件之一，以及有关脊椎动物化石材料商业化收藏的更广泛辩论。美国。