Mongolia’s Fossilised Heritage

Abstract

Abstract It has been almost 100 years since the pioneering expedition of the American Museum of Natural History (New York) to the Gobi Desert led by Roy Chapman Andrews in 1922. Therefore, it is an opportune time to examine the contribution Andrews made to palaeontology in central Asia and to consider the question of education and repatriation in the context of the protection of Mongolia’s fossilised heritage. Furthermore, this paper investigates the threat to Mongolia’s rare and exceptional cultural heritage posed by modern-day fossil poachers along with domestic efforts to combat the illicit fossil trade in central Asia. This paper concludes with an examination of the repatriation from the United States of Tarbosaurus bataar and the establishment of the Central Museum of Mongolian Dinosaurs dedicated to repatriated dinosaur specimens.