Re: Foreign vs. Local Dino Finds

["Patricia Kane-Vanni" <pkv1@erols.com>]

Allan et al.:
    I was involved with the field crew on both the Egypt and Montana digs
through Peter Dodson at Penn and I will wholeheartedly agree with your
assessment of the funding situation.  I asked the video production company
on the Egypt dig if there would be any interest on their part in our Montana
dig and the response was precisely as you noted.  The perception is that the
deserts of Montana do not hold the same exotic or romantic appeal as the
deserts of Egypt. (maybe we need some pyramids in Billings?) But I do think
there is a public out there that does want to see what happens on a dig from
start to finish, no matter where.
    This year, our third in Montana, was more difficult to fund, but later,
once the papers start coming out on our finds, there may be some breathing
room.  All we need to find out there to get some attention are bigger,
better and sexier (i.e. carnivorous) dinos!   We'll settle for some new
species for the time being.
    Patti Kane-Vanni

Patricia Kane-Vanni, Esq.
pkv1@erols.com  or  pkvanni@sas.upenn.edu

----- Original Message -----
From: "Edels" <edels@email.msn.com>
To: <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Friday, July 06, 2001 5:10 PM
Subject: Foreign vs. Local Dino Finds - WAS: Rauhut's Thesis


> Dan, Darryl, and the rest of the List:
>
> I'm afraid that some of the problem IS sponsorship.
>
> I know that Josh Smith et al, found some unusual sources for funding the
> Egyptian dig (among others: a film crew - who most likely would not have
> been interested if the dig was in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey).
>
> I know that work is being done (probably even as I write this) in Montana
on
> at least one new sauropod, and maybe a juvenile allosaur - by some of the
> same people involved in the Egypt dig.  I also know that the funding for
> Montana this year was very, very tight.
>
> It's just not as exciting to sponsor something in Montana, or Maryland as
it
> is to be able to say that "I sponsored a dinosaur expedition to the Gobi!"
> (or Africa, or Australia).  Perhaps, for local (i.e. North American)
> expeditions, we should solicit sponsorship of German, Australian, or
> Japanese companies?
>
> Lest we forget, sometimes it is the people working on the project that
cause
> the delay - for good reasons and for bad reasons.  But they too may be
more
> motivated for the better sponsorships available for the more distant digs.
>
>
> Allan Edels
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
> Danvarner@aol.com
> Sent: Friday, July 06, 2001 4:49 PM
> To: dinosaur@usc.edu
> Subject: Re: Rauhut's Thesis
>
>
> In a message dated 7/6/01 1:07:44 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
> dinoguy@sympatico.ca writes:
>
>
> .  I know there are finds in museums in Montana, Alberta, Utah, New
Mexico,
> Saskatchewan, England, and others in places closer to museums than is,
say,
> the Kem Kem.  Yet we hear about these finds first and are still waiting
for
> descriptions of the bulldog faced dromaeosaur, the good MOR Troodon
> skeleton,
> new Saurornitholestes material, an apatosaur graveyard for juveniles, and
> others.  I certainly don't think science should be compromised for the
sake
> of publishing new names (like was done 100 odd years ago), but I get the
> impression that journals want the prestige of publishing new material from
> "way over there".  Am I wrong?
>
>
>
>        I hear you. I don't think the problem is with the journals as much
as
> how this work and subsequent funding is now generated by commercial
> entities/production companies. I think that the Dinosaur Society and its
> tie-in with Jurassic Park money really started this (although one could go
> back to Roy Chapman Andrews hyping Dodge trucks for the 1920's Gobi
> Expeditions). The film crews are always there and it has to look flashy.
> Downtown Edgemont, South Dakota just won't make for a flamboyant backround
> for a scientific expedition. Colorful natives and an element of danger
make
> for better TV than a couple of beer-gutted good ole boys (you rang?)
> staggering out of the local bistro in Glasgow, Montana. Film makers
Merriam
> Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack knew this in the days before they made King
> Kong
> and went to exotic locations all over the world for their
quasi-documentary
> films. The exotic sells. By the way, I'm not saying this is neccessarily a
> bad thing, but it is a growing phenomenon lately. DV
>
>