From one of the world's leading natural scientists and the acclaimed author of "Trilobite , Life: A Natural History of Four Billion Years of Life on Earth" and "Dry Storeroom No. 1 "comes a fascinating chronicle of life's history told not through the fossil record but through the stories of organisms that have survived, almost unchanged, throughout time. Evolution, it seems, has not completely obliterated its tracks as more advanced organisms have evolved; the history of life on earth is far older--and odder--than many of us realize.
Scattered across the globe, these remarkable plants and animals continue to mark seminal events in geological time. From a moonlit beach in Delaware, where the hardy horseshoe crab shuffles its way to a frenzy of mass mating just as it did 450 million years ago, to the dense rainforests of New Zealand, where the elusive, unprepossessing velvet worm has burrowed deep into rotting timber since before the breakup of the ancient supercontinent, to a stretch of Australian coastline with stromatolite formations that bear witness to the Precambrian dawn, the existence of these survivors offers us a tantalizing glimpse of pivotal points in evolutionary history. These are not "living fossils" but rather a handful of tenacious creatures of days long gone.
Written in buoyant, sparkling prose, "Horseshoe Crabs and Velvet Worms" is a marvelously captivating exploration of the world's old-timers combining the very best of science writing with an explorer's sense of adventure and wonder.

The belief that some dinosaurs were so gigantic that they couldn't exist with today's gravity is a topic frequently discussed on internet websites. The opinion posted the most is that the Earth's mass must have changed significantly resulting in an alteration of surface gravity or that the Earth somehow expanded. Neither of these opinions have scientific support. The theory explained in this book, the GTME, does have that support.
Readers familiar with basic rotational physics understand that when there is a redistribution of mass within a rotating symmetrical object, like the Earth, there are two laws of physics that must be obeyed: the conservation of (1) rotational kinetic energy and (2) angular momentum. When the Earth's continents coalesced to form Pangea, their center of mass shifted south of the equator, an action which would have reduced (1) and (2). Something had to offset the above continental movement in order to conserve the two quantities described. That something was either the shifting of the Earth's core elements (inner/outer cores and densest lower mantle) away from Pangea or the increase in rotational velocity of the Earth (i.e., shortening of the day). The latter has not been detected during Pangea's existence.
Considerable circumstantial evidence supports the GTME. The most obvious is the existence of the largest dinosaurs, the sauropods. As Pangea broke apart and surface gravity increased the extinction of all non-avian dinosaurs, sea-going reptiles, ammonites, pterosaurs, etc., occurred. Core element movement is supported by the massive flood basalt volcanism of the Mesozoic and the two superchrons, the periods when magnetic pole reversal didn't occur.
The most powerful support for the GTME comes from the science of paleomagnetism. Paleomagnetists are split between support of the Pangea A vs. Pangea B models. Relying on the magnetic Geocentric Axial Dipole (GAD) model to reconstruct continental positions of Pangea they encountered a roadblock; the continents appeared to overlap. The GTME solves this problem because the shifting of the core elements from the Earth's geocenter mandates a non-GAD model. A recent study hypothesizes that geomagnetic pole reversals are directly linked to continental plate distribution; a concept already posited by the GTME As explained in this book, many if not most of the mass extinctions were the result of changes in the Earth's surface gravity due to core element movement resulting from continental tectonic plate movement.

THIS 28 PAGE ARTICLE WAS EXTRACTED FROM THE BOOK: Science and Hebrew Tradition Essays, by Thomas H. Huxley. To purchase the entire book, please order ISBN 0766137848.

Shawnee legend tells of a herd of huge bison rampaging through the Ohio Valley, laying waste to all in their path. To protect the tribe, a deity slew these great beasts with lightning bolts, finally chasing the last giant buffalo into exile across the Wabash River, never to trouble the Shawnee again. The source of this legend was a peculiar salt lick in present-day northern Kentucky, where giant fossilized skeletons had for centuries lain undisturbed by the Shawnee and other natives of the region. In 1739, the first Europeans encountered this fossil site, which eventually came to be known as Big Bone Lick. The site drew the attention of all who heard of it, including George Washington, Daniel Boone, Benjamin Franklin, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, and especially Thomas Jefferson. The giant bones immediately cast many scientific and philosophical assumptions of the day into doubt, and they eventually gave rise to the study of fossils for biological and historical purposes. Big Bone Lick: The Cradle of American Paleontology recounts the rich history of the fossil site that gave the world the first evidence of the extinction of several mammalian species, including the American mastodon. Big Bone Lick has played many roles: nutrient source, hallowed ground, salt mine, health spa, and a rich trove of archaeological and paleontological wonders. Natural historian Stanley Hedeen presents a comprehensive narrative of Big Bone Lick from its geological formation forward, explaining why the site attracted animals, regional tribespeople, European explorers and scientists, and eventually American pioneers and presidents. Big Bone Lick is the history of both a place and a scientific discipline: it explores the infancy and adolescence of paleontology from its humble and sometimes humorous beginnings. Hedeen combines elements of history, geology, politics, and biology to make Big Bone Lick a valuable historical resource as well as the compelling tale of how a collection of fossilized bones captivated a young nation.

For more than a century, scientists have raced to unravel the human family tree and have grappled with its complications. Now, with an astonishing new discovery, everything we thought we knew about primate origins could change. Lying inside a high-security vault, deep within the heart of one of the world's leading natural history museums, is the scientific find of a lifetime - a perfectly fossilized early primate, older than the previously most famous primate fossil, Lucy, by forty-four million years. A secret until now, the fossil - Ida to theresearchers who have painstakingly verified her provenance - is the most complete primate fossil ever found. Forty-seven million years old, Ida rewrites what we've assumed about the earliest primate origins. Her completeness is unparalleled - so much of what we understand about evolution comes from partial fossils and even single bones, but Ida's fossilization offers much more than that, from a haunting skin shadow to her stomach contents. And, remarkably, knowledge of her discovery and existence almost never saw the light of day. With exclusive access to the first scientiststo study her, the award-winning science writer Colin Tudge tells the history of Ida and her place in the world. A magnificent, cutting-edge scientific detective story followed her discovery, and The Link offers a wide-ranging investigation into Ida and our earliest origins. At the same time, it opens a stunningly evocative window into our past and changes what we know about primate evolution and, ultimately, our own.

This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

Maniraptora includes the first known bird, Archaeopteryx, the small, four-winged, feathered glider, Microraptor, and the terrestrial runner Bambiraptor. All are considered important links in the origin of flight and a subsequent transition to terrestriality. In cladistic classifications, dromaeosaurid "dinosaurs" were only considered terrestrial cursors. The discovery of a gliding stage within the dromaeosaurs confounds the currently suggested evolutionary framework and lacks predictability for origin of flight scenarios. Paleoclimate was a significant factor for evolution of dinosaur-like birds and birdlike dinosaurs during the Mesozoic. This time is characterized by faunal and floral changes reflecting the cooling trend at end of the Cretaceous. The environment opened up making it difficult for poor fliers and gliders as forested areas became less dense. Secondarily flightless terrestrial forms and birds with full flight capabilities survived best in these new environments. Eventually, birds of modern aspect probably replaced the primitive maniraptorans since they were more efficient fliers and had evolved higher metabolic rates suitable for the cooler climate.

When dinosaurs were first unearthed in the 19th century, they were reconstructed as lethargic beasts, a stigma associated with ectothermy. This perception prevailed for 150 years. Then John Ostrom rocked the foundations of dinosaur paleontology in the late 1960s. He uncovered evidence that dinosaurs lived dynamic lives, a trait associated with "endothermy" (i.e., warm-bloodedness). Significant scientific advancements were made by ensuing generations of paleontologists following in Ostrom's footsteps. But now there is reason to suspect that dinosaurs were incredible frauds. Dinosaurs Incognito proposes that dinosaurs were ectotherms and exposes how these clever beasts managed to pull off their endothermic charade by presenting them in intriguing ways that both challenges conventional doctrine and encourages alternate thought. The reader is also introduced to a special axiom regarding morphology, provocative new ideas concerning the nitty-gritty of dinosaur life, and some entertaining anecdotes for good measure which are sure to make Dinosaurs Incognito a memorable experience for the general reader and scientist alike.

Lilian Brown shares her early adventures with husband Barnum Brown (curator, American Museum of Natural History) on his paleontological expeditions to India and Burma. The focus here is not on Barnum's scientific discoveries, but on the curious cultures and people they encountered as they camped and traveled. From pets to parties, her descriptions of life on a long expedition (often waiting for Barnum to return from his lone wolf forays for fossil beds) shows a very different side than you'll find in an academic journal.

Today the Upper Thames Valley is a region of green pastures and well-managed farmland, interspersed with pretty villages and intersected by a meandering river. The discovery in 1989 of a mammoth tusk in river gravels at Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, revealed the very different ancient past of this landscape. Here, some 200,000 years ago, mammoths, straight-tusked elephants, lions, and other animals roamed across grasslands with scattered trees, occasionally disturbed by small bands of Neanderthals. The pit where the tusk was discovered, destined to become a waste disposal site, provided a rare opportunity to conduct intensive excavations that extended over a period of 10 years. This work resulted in the recording and recovery of more than 1500 vertebrate fossils and an abundance of other biological material, including insects, molluscs, and plant remains, together with 36 stone artefacts attributable to Neanderthals. The well-preserved plant remains include leaves, nuts, twigs and large oak logs. Vertebrate remains notably include the most comprehensive known assemblage of a distinctive small form of the steppe mammoth, Mammuthus trogontherii, that is characteristic of an interglacial period equated with marine isotope stage 7 (MIS 7). Richly illustrated throughout, Mammoths and Neanderthals in the Thames Valley offers a detailed account of all these finds and will be of interest to Quaternary specialists and students alike.

This collection of papers is dedicated to Dr Ina Plug to celebrate her tremendous contributions to archaeozoology (or zooarchaeology) in a career that has so far spanned more than three decades. Contents: Preface; Ina Plug: A Tribute (Shaw Badenhorst); Zooarchaeology in Southern Africa: A View from the North (Terry O'Connor); Archaeozoology at the Transvaal Museum and Its Future in South Africa (Karin Scott); Models for Zooarchaeologists from Modern Bushmeat Studies (Jonathan C. Driver); The Contribution of Sibudu Fauna to an Understanding of KwaZulu-Natal Environments at 60 ka, 50 ka and 37 ka (Lyn Wadley, Ina Plug, and Jamie L. Clark); Variability and Change in Middle Stone Age Hunting Behaviour: Aspects from the Lithic and Faunal Records (Marlize Lombard and Jamie L. Clark); Archaeobiodiversity of Ichthyofaunas from the Holocene Sahel (Nadja Pollath, Joris Peters, and Helene Jousse); Shrews from Ein el Gazzareen, Dakhleh Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt (C.S. Churcher); Human and Animal Interaction on the Shire Highlands, Malawi: The Evidence from Malowa Rockshelter (Yusuf M. Juwayeyi); Early Herders in Southern Africa: A Synthesis (Andrew B. Smith); The Canine Connection: Dogs and Southern African Hunter-gatherers (Peter Mitchell); Fishing in the Senegal River during the Iron Age: The Evidence from the Habitation Mounds of Cubalel and Sioure (Wim Van Neer); Early Iron Age Regional Settlement and Demographic Patterns along the Eastern Seaboard of South Africa: A View from the Lower Thukela River Valley (Haskel J. Greenfield and Leonard O. van Schalkwyk); A Consideration of Livestock Exploitation during the Early Iron Age in the Thukela Valley, KwaZulu-Natal (Elizabeth R. Arnold); Social Memory and the Antiquity of Snake and Crocodile Symbolism in Southern Africa (Kent D. Fowler); Symbolic Animal Burials from the Venda Region in the Limpopo Province, South Africa (Louisa Hutten); Zhizo and Leopard's Kopje: Test Excavations at Simamwe and Mtanye, Zimbabwe (T.N. Huffman); Subsistence Change among Farming Communities in Southern Africa during the Last Two Millennia: A Search for Potential Causes (Shaw Badenhorst).

The Cambrian Period (542 to 488 Ma) marks the beginning of an abundant fossil record, and the Burgess Shale Biota was the first fully described fossil assemblage that contains a relatively complete picture of a benthic Cambrian community. More Burgess Shale-type (BST) fossil assemblages have been discovered since then and are ready to be utilized to test hypotheses about the ecology of the Cambrian explosion, which is the most important event in the evolution of metazoans. This book focuses on the Kaili Biota (http: //hdl.handle.net/1811/24227), an important deposit bridging the stratigraphic gap between Chengjiang Biota and Burgess Shale Biota. It allows us to gain a more complete understanding of the Cambrian life through the window of BST deposits. The book is divided into four parts. Part 1 includes stratigraphic background of Kaili Formation. Part 2 contains discussions on taphonomy. Part 3 provides new observation for Cambrian paleoecology, including animal-substrate relations, spawning habits, teiring community, and faunal succession. Part 4 presents hypotheses on arthropod, echinoderm evolution, and the evolution of biosphere.

This is an easy to read guide for beginners on how to find real treasure. Learn how to find fossils, rocks, artifacts around the U.S. Great fun for kids, teens and the whole family. This book also includes metal detecting information, a treasure log sheet and links for complete state by state listings of fossil and rock sites.

"Speak to the Earth and It Will Teach You" is a book that tells the story of Earl Douglass, a paleontologist who made a remarkable discovery of Jurassic dinosaur bones one hundred years ago. Written by his only son, Gawin, the book includes many, never-before published, excerpts from the diaries which Earl kept for forty-seven years of his life, beginning in 1884. It tells of the pleasures and sorrows, financial problems and successes of one man's life, dedicated to science and a search for truth. On a field expedition for the Carnegie Museum during the summer of 1909 Douglass made his famous discovery near Jensen, Utah, an area which was later set aside as Dinosaur National Monument. This discovery late in August, kept him working in Utah, living in tents with his wife and 18-month old son throughout one of the coldest winters on record for that area. The book also contains many photographs taken by Douglass during this period showing excavation and shipment of the bones.

A photographic guide to Oklahoma's Devonian trilobites. The geological history of Coal County, Oklahoma. Descriptions of rock formations where trilobites are found. Excavation and restoration of trilobites. A photographic atlas of the Lower Devonian trilobites of Oklahoma, with helpful information to aid in their identification.

Trilobites are a well-known fossil group, possibly second most famous only to dinosaurs. With their easily fossilized exoskeleton, they left an extensive and diverse fossil record. They began a drawn-out decline to extinction during Late Devonian time, when all but one of the trilobite orders died out.

This meticulously researched reference guide is a photographic atlas and descriptive compendium on the trilobites of Coal County, Oklahoma. The species described lived during the Lower Devonian in a shallow tropical ocean that had advanced over the landscape of North America. More than twenty species are exquisitely preserved in Oklahoma's limestone rocks.

Each species is carefully illustrated, including thorough descriptions, so that those familiar and unfamiliar can understand and appreciate these amazing creatures. The most current scientific research on these trilobites is also included. For those wishing to pursue a deeper interest in trilobites, a comprehensive bibliography lists hundreds of sources of information for further study.

This work sets out to examine four taxa of birds from the Quaternary of Europe that exhibit interesting morphological anomalies cranes (Grus), grouse/ptarmigans (Lagopus), ravens (Corvus corax) and starlings (Sturnus) to address whether these were the result of inter- or intraspecific processes. Modern skeletal material of these taxa from a wide geographical area was examined so as to make a more realistic assessment of the fossils than had previously been achieved. Similarly, fossils were studied from a wider geographical and temporal range than before. The study of the four chosen taxa was carried out with an acknowledgement of a variety of theoretical issues in biology, which affect the interpretation of such fossils.

Initially conceived as an attempt to disprove the idea that cowrie shells served as currency during the period of the Hungarian invasion in the Carpathian basin (10th century AD), this study has grown into somehting much larger. It collects data for the presence of cowrie shells as grave goods over a far wider spatial and chronological range as part of a comparative anthropological study to determine their various functions, in particular as fertility amulets, as well as tracing their spread from the Eurasian Steppe to western Europe during the migration period.

Papers from the Second ICAZ Animal Palaeopathology Working Group Conference held at Nitra, Slovakia in September 2005. 1) Introduction: current research in animal palaeopathology (R. Thomas & Z. Miklikova); 2) Environmental stress in early domestic sheep (L. Bartosiewicz); 3) A developmental anomaly of prehistoric roe deer dentition from Svodin, Slovakia (M. Fabis, R. Thomas, V. Paral & D. Vondrak); 4) A possible case of tuberculosis or brucellosis in an Iron Age horse skeleton from Viables Farm, Basingstoke, England (R. Bendrey); 5) Animal palaeopathology at two Roman sites in central Britain (S. Vann); 6) Understanding past human-animal relationships through the analysis of fractures: a case study from a Roman site in The Netherlands (M. Groot); 7) Pathology in horses from a Roman cemetery (K. Lyublyanovics); 8) Animal diseases at a Celtic-Roman village in Hungary (M. Daroczi-Szabo); 9) Skeletal alterations of animal remains from the early medieval settlement of Bajc, southwest Slovakia (Z. Miklikova); 10) Animal diseases from medieval Buda (P. Csippan & L. Daroczi-Szabo); 11) Broken-winged: fossil and sub-fossil pathological bird bones from recent excavations (E. Gal); 12) Osteoporosis in animal palaeopathology (M. Martiniakova, R. Omelka, M. Vondrakova, M. Bauerova, P. Massanyi & M. Fabis); 13) Cranial perforations in Armenian cattle (N. Manaseryan).

The dominant faunal elements in shallow Paleozoic oceans, echinoderms are important to understanding these marine ecosystems. Echinoderms (which include such animals as sea stars, crinoids or sea lilies, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers) have left a rich and, for science, extremely useful fossil record. For various reasons, they provide the ideal source for answers to the questions that will help us develop a more complete understanding of global environmental and biodiversity changes. This volume highlights the modern study of fossil echinoderms and is organized into five parts: echinoderm paleoecology, functional morphology, and paleoecology; evolutionary paleoecology; morphology for refined phylogenetic studies; innovative applications of data encoded in echinoderms; and information on new crinoid data sets.

AN INTRODUCTION TO PALEOBOTANY By CHESTER A. ARNOLD. PREFACE The preparation of this book was motivated by a longfelt need for a concise yet fairly comprehensive textbook of paleobotahy for use in American colleges and universities. Although se jftrate courses in paleobotany are not offered in many institutionsfifr ssil plants are fre quently treated in regular courses in botany and aleontology. In these courses both student and instructor are often compelled to resort to widely scattered publications, which are not always conveniently avail able. Lack of ready access to sources of information has retarded instruction in paleobotany and has lessened the number of students specializing in this field. Another effect no less serious hag bteen the frequent lack of appreciation by botanists and paleontologists yf the importance of fossil plants in biological and geological science. The two works of reference principally used by British and American students of paleobotany within recent decades have been Sewards Fossil Plants and Scotts Studies in Fossil Botany the former con sisting of four volumes, published - at intervals between 1898 and 191 7, and the latter of two volumes, the last edition of which appeared in 1920 and 1923. Both are now put of print, and although they will continue to occupy a prominent place among the great works in paleobotany, they are already in many respects obsolete. Since the publication of the last edition of Scotts Studies, many new and important discoveries have been made, which have not only added greatly to our knowledge of fossil plants but which have altered our interpretations of some of them. Many of the newer contributions have resulted from techniquesscarcely known to the writers of the first quarter of the present century. Thfese new techniques have also brought about certain shifts of emphasis, which are evident when one compares certain portions of this book with the writings of 30 years ago. The arrangement and scope of the subject matter is in part the result of 17 years of experience in teaching a small course in paleobotany open to advanced undergraduate and graduate students, most of whom were majors or minors in botany or biology. The approach to the subject is therefore essentially botanical. Paleobotany as a subdivision of paleon tology can be treated either biologically or geologically, but the two approaches are so different that to tiy to combine them would result only in confusion and lack of clarity. The present arrangement, therefore, is vii viii PREFACE followed partly because of the necessity of making a choice, but mostly because of the authors conviction that it is best for instructional purposes. The author is not unaware of the preoccupation with paleo botany of many geologists who might with good reason prefer a presenta tion following the geologic time scale. Their requirements are met to some extent by the inclusion of the chapter on The Sequence of the Plant World in Geologic Time, in which an effort is made to summarize the floras of the eras and periods. Then, in dealing with some of the plant groups, the most ancient members are described first, thereby giving some idea of the major steps in development from their first appearance down to the present. In making selections of subject matter an author can hardly avoid being partial to his particular interests to the neglect of other material. In spite ofan effort to avoid bias, the ready admission is made that this book is not free from it...

This volume presents state-of-the-art papers on important topics and methods in the analysis of vertebrate microfossil assemblages. The minute remains of animals and plants have proven very useful to paleontologists as tools for dating large fossils, describing the environments which existed at the time the fossils were deposited, and identifying and mapping the extent of local floras and faunas, among other things. Due to the large sample sizes that can be obtained, the chance to recover rare taxa is much higher than it is during a search for skeletal remains. Analysis of the data produced from microvertebrate localities can address a wide range of questions as these papers clearly demonstrate.

Shawnee legend tells of a herd of huge bison rampaging through the Ohio Valley, laying waste to all in their path. To protect the tribe, a deity slew these great beasts with lightning bolts, finally chasing the last giant buffalo into exile across the Wabash River, never to trouble the Shawnee again. The source of this legend was a peculiar salt lick in present-day northern Kentucky, where giant fossilized skeletons had for centuries lain undisturbed by the Shawnee and other natives of the region. In 1739, the first Europeans encountered this fossil site, which eventually came to be known as Big Bone Lick. The site drew the attention of all who heard of it, including George Washington, Daniel Boone, Benjamin Franklin, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, and especially Thomas Jefferson. The giant bones immediately cast many scientific and philosophical assumptions of the day into doubt, and they eventually gave rise to the study of fossils for biological and historical purposes. Big Bone Lick: The Cradle of American Paleontology recounts the rich history of the fossil site that gave the world the first evidence of the extinction of several mammalian species, including the American mastodon. Big Bone Lick has played many roles: nutrient source, hallowed ground, salt mine, health spa, and a rich trove of archaeological and paleontological wonders. Natural historian Stanley Hedeen presents a comprehensive narrative of Big Bone Lick from its geological formation forward, explaining why the site attracted animals, regional tribespeople, European explorers and scientists, and eventually American pioneers and presidents. Big Bone Lick is the history of both a place and a scientific discipline: it explores the infancy and adolescence of paleontology from its humble and sometimes humorous beginnings. Hedeen combines elements of history, geology, politics, and biology to make Big Bone Lick a valuable historical resource as well as the compelling tale of how a collection of fossilized bones captivated a young nation.

Understanding Paleolithic animal exploitation requires a multifaceted approach. Inferences may derive from research on paleoenvironments and taphonomy, the development of new methods for interpreting seasonality patterns, and ethnoarchaeological observations. A full understanding of Paleolithic economies also requires a multiregional perspective. This volume brings together a group of scholars with research interests from across the globe to understand the nature of animal exploitation practices through the lens of taphonomy. The chapters include case studies on the types of animals that Paleolithic peoples hunted and gathered through time and space, and taphonomic analyses of non-human animal bone assemblages.