Улаанбаатар
Lawyer Robert Painter: “It’s a Joy to See the T-Bataar Back Home and Smiling Happier Than Ever”
Society
Ulaanbaatar, June 12, 2025 /MONTSAME/. On June 9, 2025, Lawyer Robert Painter returned to Mongolia to observe the archeological fossil of the dinosaur Tarbosaurus Bataar at the Natural History Museum of Mongolia.
Lawyer Robert Painter
is one of the key contributors to the efforts to return the 70-million-year-old
fossil of the T-Bataar, which had been illegally transported overseas, back to
Mongolia.
Robert Painter recalled,
“Ten years ago, I made a telephone call to the judges and halted the process of
auctioning off the T-Bataar fossil in New York. Together with the working group
led by Mr. P. Tsagaan and the U.S. government, we brought the T-Bataar back to
its homeland. It’s a joy to see the T-Bataar back home and smiling happier than
ever. Since this incident, the number of similar illegal conduct has decreased.”
P. Tsagaan, who was
leading the team working to bring the T-Bataar back to Mongolia, said, “I am happy
that lawyer Robert Painter, who played an important role in returning the
T-Bataar to Mongolia, is here with us today at the museum. It all feels like it
was yesterday when we protested, “Return Mongolian cultural heritage!" Thanks to which we were given 10 days to present proof. Four researchers analyzed the
T-Bataar at the time and proved that it belonged to Mongolia. Legal experts, scholars,
and media professionals played a significant role in the initiative. Since the retrieval
of the T-Bataar, 230 artifacts were recovered.”
The T-Bataar case is talked about and researched in many American universities. The 70-million-year-old fossil of the Tarbosaurus Bataar species was retrieved from the U.S. and returned to Mongolia on May 17, 2013. Globally, dinosaur fossils discovered in the U.S. and other countries are commonly referred to as Tyrannosaurus, whereas those unearthed in Mongolia are specifically identified as Tarbosaurus Bataar.
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