在蒙古的烈焰峭壁（Flaming Cliffs）与戈壁附近的 Khongil，古生物学家把化石同时视为科学记录与国家遗产：Mainbayar Buuvei（42 岁）描述了超过 80 million years ago 的成对蜥脚类足迹，并花了 18 years 记录那些能保存皮肤纹理与爪部等细节的足迹地点。文章将戈壁定位为全球重要的恐龙区域：地表裸露、保护较弱，且在一个约 3.5 million 人、于 1990s 从单一政党社会主义转型的国家中具有文化核心地位。野外工作条件依然艰苦，包括偏远营地、漫长陆路行程，以及近年挖掘期间才有的卫星网路接入。
核心冲突在于研究可及性与化石商业化之间：尽管蒙古有出口限制与 1924 的销售禁令，高价标本仍持续在国际间流通，包括 Nicolas Cage 在 2007 据报以 $276000 购入 Tarbosaurus 头骨（并于 2015 归还），以及 Ken Griffin 在 2024 以 $44.6 million 购入一具 150-million-year-old 的 Stegosaurus（Apex）。现代法律转折点是 2012 年美国对经销商 Eric Prokopi 的案件；他被判 3-month 刑期，并促成数十件蒙古化石回归。回收材料如今成为乌兰巴托自然历史博物馆展陈的核心，呈现了有限的追索成果与早期流失造成的长期科学成本。
文章的量化趋势是保护缺口持续扩大：已有数百件归还化石仍在等待来源对应，而执法能力落后于市场诱因与开放遗址的旅游压力。更广泛的社会经济数据也强化了这一限制：在采矿驱动的经济波动与 6 月数千人反贪抗议的背景下，乌兰巴托人口在 24 years 内增至约 1.7 million，约占全国总人口的 50%。因此研究者采取风险管理策略，例如把新暴露的高价值骨架重新掩埋，待资金与人力到位后再处理，并倡议使用数位翻模，以在私人买家竞价胜过博物馆时降低科学排除。
At Mongolia’s Flaming Cliffs and nearby Khongil in the Gobi, paleontologists treat fossils as both scientific records and national heritage: Mainbayar Buuvei (age 42) describes paired sauropod tracks from over 80 million years ago and has spent 18 years documenting sites where footprints preserve fine details such as skin texture and claws. The article frames the Gobi as a globally important dinosaur region that is physically exposed, lightly protected, and culturally central to a country of about 3.5 million people that transitioned from single-party socialism in the 1990s. Fieldwork conditions remain austere, with remote camps, long overland travel, and only recent satellite internet access during digs.
The core conflict is between research access and fossil commercialization: despite Mongolian export restrictions and a 1924 sales ban, high-value specimens continue to circulate internationally, including Nicolas Cage’s reported $276000 Tarbosaurus skull purchase in 2007 (returned in 2015) and Ken Griffin’s $44.6 million purchase in 2024 of a 150-million-year-old Stegosaurus (Apex). The modern legal turning point was the 2012 US case against dealer Eric Prokopi, who received a 3-month sentence and triggered repatriation of dozens of Mongolian fossils. Recovered material now anchors exhibits in Ulaanbaatar’s Natural History Museum, illustrating both partial restitution and the long-term scientific cost of earlier extraction.
The article’s quantitative trend is a widening preservation gap: there are hundreds of returned fossils still awaiting provenance matching, while enforcement capacity lags behind market incentives and tourism pressure at open sites. Broader socioeconomic data reinforce this constraint, as Ulaanbaatar’s population rose to about 1.7 million over 24 years, roughly 50% of the national total, amid mining-led economic volatility and anti-corruption protests involving thousands in June. Researchers therefore use risk-management tactics, such as re-burying newly exposed high-value skeletons until adequate funding and personnel are available, and advocate digital casts to reduce scientific exclusion when private buyers outcompete museums.