After authorities determined a rare dinosaur skull he bought at an auction for $276,000 was stolen, Nicolas Cage has voluntarily handed over the artifact to be returned to the Mongolian government. He isn’t, however, being accused of any wrongdoing or previous knowledge the skull was stolen; its return was an entirely voluntary action on his part after contact from the Department of Homeland Security.
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He said he heard loud banging on his locked bedroom door around 4:15 a.m. and that his son said, “You’re not going to scare me”. He said he heard gunshots as he made his way down from the second floor and then saw his son and Ms Jones lying in the foyer.
Since 2012, prosecutors have used civil and criminal actions to return to Mongolia of several dinosaur fossils that include multiple Tyrannosaurus and other skeletons, dinosaur eggs and small prehistoric lizards and turtles.
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Her Majesty added that the “thoughts and prayers of the whole country are with him and the crew, especially at this time of year”. Malenchenko docked the ship on manual controls after automatic docking was aborted for an unspecified reason.
Fossils dealer Eric Prokopi was jailed in 2014 for smuggling dinosaur bones from Mongolia into the USA, including those of a Tyrannosaurus bataar, but it is unknown whether he is connected to the stolen skull.
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He was reportedly rushed to a hospital in New South Wales on Saturday (December 26) and passed away on Sunday (December 27). It later saw a resurgence in attention when it covered by none other than David Bowie, on his 1973 covers album Pin-Ups.
The actor and gallery are not accused of any wrong doing.
While Herskowitz said he was surprised that Cage gave the skull to authorities, he said he understood the desire to do the right thing and cooperate with law enforcement.
Anyway! Some years after Cage took home the prized tyrannosauras bataar skull, people started wondering how the auctioneers got it in the first place. So far, the remains of said dinosaur have only ever been discovered in Mongolia.
Tarbosaurus bataar lived during the Cretaceous period and disappeared some 65 million years ago. Some of those findings include three full Tyrannosaurus bataar skeletons.
Nicolas Cage has been known for his outrageous purchases.
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Cage’s Hollywood resume includes his breakout film “Raising Arizona”, the “National Treasure” series from Disney and his Oscar-winning performance in “Leaving Las Vegas”.
