T-Rex Sue Unearthed: Most Complete Dinosaur Found
Sue Hendrickson, an amateur paleontologist, spotted three large vertebrae protruding from a cliff face near Faith, South Dakota, on August 12, 1990, while her companions were in town fixing a flat tire. The excavation that followed uncovered the largest, most complete, and best-preserved Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever found: over 250 bones representing roughly 90% of the skeleton. A legal battle over ownership followed, involving the FBI, the National Guard, and the landowner, rancher Maurice Williams. The specimen was eventually auctioned at Sotheby's in 1997 for $8.36 million to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, where "Sue" remains the most visited dinosaur exhibit in the world.
August 12, 1990
36 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on August 12
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Sweden and the Republic of Novgorod signed the Treaty of Noteborg, establishing their shared border for the first time. The treaty divided Finland and Karelia b…
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