Paul Stewens

@p-stewens

Law & Palaeontology researcher | PhD candidate (Maastricht University) | Master in Int‘l Law (Geneva Graduate Institute) | social dancer

405 Following285 Followers104 Posts

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Paul Stewens@p-stewens· Apr 23

True! The statement just really makes it sound as if it were claiming at least "non-illegality" when it states that the fossil left Brazil prior to the 1990 export restrictions and that the Land of Baden-Württemberg owned it...

screenshot of ethics statement with highlights

Paul Stewens@p-stewens· Apr 22

On 20 April 2026, the German Chancellor and the Brazilian President finally announced that the fossil of Irritator challengeri will be handed over to Brazil. This announcement was part of the Joint Declaration 3rd German-Brazilian Intergovernmental Consultations. [13/17]

"Fossil Research: Both sides value the scientific cooperation in the
field of fossil research, with the aim of utilising the expertise and
exhibits available in Germany and Brazil for the mutual benefit of
both countries. In this context, both governments welcome the
willingness of the State of Baden-Württemberg and the State
Museum of Natural History in Stuttgart to hand over the Irritator
challengeri fossil to Brazil."

Paul Stewens@p-stewens· Apr 22

It took another year of tireless public advocacy until the government of Baden-Württemberg finally agreed to agreed to return "Ubirajara jubatus" to Brazil in July 2022. On 5 June 2023, Bira finally made its way home. [7/17]

Paul Stewens@p-stewens· Apr 22

Fast forward to 2020. Cretaceous Research publishes an article that describes another Brazilian dinosaur from a fossil in a German collection: Ubirajara jubatus. Within days, Brazilian palaeontologists launch #UbirajaraBelongstoBR, a massive campaign to see the fossil repatriated to Brazil. [5/17]

Protest art about Ubirajara: Repatriate me. Colonial Science: No!

Paul Stewens@p-stewens· Apr 22

In 1996, Martill et al. describe a "new crested maniraptoran dinosaur from the Santana Formation" and name the new genus after "irritation, the feeling the authors felt (understated here) when discovering that the snout had been artificially elongated." Dealer had tampered with the fossil. [4/17]

Screenshot of the systematic description in Martill et al. (1996)

Paul Stewens@p-stewens· Apr 22

The #fossil of Irritator challengeri is finally going back to Brazil after 35 years in Germany. This is a major event for #DecolonizeScience and the #restitution of natural history specimens. Let's talk about #IrritatorBelongstoBR. [1/17]

skeletal reconstruction of Irritator challengeri

Paul Stewens@p-stewens· Apr 21

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]

Blurry sepia picture of a pterosaur skeleton

Paul Stewens@p-stewens· Apr 21

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]

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.

Paul Stewens@p-stewens· Apr 21

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]

Adriaen van Stalbemt or Hieronymus Francken the Younger (ca. 1650), The Sciences and the Arts (Museo del Prado)

Paul Stewens@p-stewens· Apr 21

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]

Carl (Karl) Ledermann jun., 1., Maria-Theresien-Platz - Blick gegen Heldenplatz, Panoramaansichtskarte, before 1905

Paul Stewens@p-stewens· Apr 21

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]

Reconstruction of the Museum Wormianum in the NHM Copenhagen

Paul Stewens@p-stewens· Nov 8

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...

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.

Paul Stewens@p-stewens· Sep 26

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

Glass cases with a live reconstruction of homo erectus on the Java Man fossils side by side.

Paul Stewens@p-stewens· Sep 9

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...

Selfie of Paul Stewens in a green suit in front of the UN HQ in Geneva (Switzerland)

Paul Stewens@p-stewens· Mar 12

Happening today at 1.00 pm (CET), title slide for a teaser!

Title slide of a presentation titled "Distinction Without a Difference? Natural vs. Cultural Heritage in the Spotlight of Restitution Claims", showing a picture of a dinosaur skeleton at a museum and a Benin bronze.

Paul Stewens@p-stewens· Mar 6

Event announcement! Next Wednesday (12 March), I'll tell you why it's not productive to think of natural history and cultural property as two separate worlds. The talk will be online at 1.00 pm (CET), so feel free to join me over lunch! For all relevant information: paul-stewens.com/news/talk-na...

The Giraffatitan brancai skeleton on display at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin.

Paul Stewens@p-stewens· Jan 14

Another day, another case of questionable practices in #palaeontology. In the news today: Xenodens calminechari, a mosasaurid with "unique" dentition that was described from Moroccan #fossil material in 2021. Let's talk fossil trafficking, forgery, and accessibility of specimens, shall we? Thread /1

Left maxilla of Xenodens calminechari, MHNM.KH.331: compilation of photographs from different angles and with different Zoom levels and annotations

Paul Stewens@p-stewens· Nov 27

I’ve been asking myself that question at every single academic conference I’ve been to…decent public speaking skills among academics are far rarer than they should be. #AcademicChatter From: A. C. Doyle (1912), The Lost World - Wordsworth Classics edition (2010), p. 33

Image of underlined text in a book: “Why on earth people who have something to say which is worth hearing should not take the slight trouble to learn how to make it heard is one of the strange mysteries of modern life.”

Paul Stewens@p-stewens· Nov 26

Joining the #introduction round here on #academicsky: I'm Paul, a soon-to-be #PhD researcher in #law at Maastricht University. My field is Law and Palaeontology, or all legal questions concerning fossils: excavation, trafficking, restitution, you name it. #dinosaurlaw @phdvoice.bsky.social