Richard Owen F.R.S. (1804-92) was a controversial and influential palaeontologist and anatomist. Owen studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and at London's St Bartholomew's Hospital. He grew interested in anatomical research, and after qualifying he became assistant conservator in the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, and then superintendent of natural history in the British Museum. He quickly became an authority on comparative anatomy and palaeontology, coining the term 'dinosaur' and founding the Natural History Museum. He was also a fierce critic of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, and engaged in a long and bitter argument with Darwin's 'Bulldog', Thomas Huxley. Published in 1866, this is the second book in a highly illustrated three-volume set that comprises a thorough overview of vertebrate anatomy. This volume focuses on the anatomy of birds, and includes the first part of the analysis of mammalian anatomy.

Multidisciplinary research on the Early-Middle Pleistocene site of Gesher Benot Ya aqov has yielded abundant climatic, environmental, ecological and behavioral records. The 15 archaeological horizons form a sequence of Acheulian occupational episodes on the shore of the paleo-Lake Hula. These enable us to reconstruct numerous aspects of the survival and adaptation of ancient hominins, leading to a better understanding of their evolution and behavior. This book presents the faunal analyses of medium-sized and large mammals, providing taxonomic, taphonomic and actualistic data for the largest faunal assemblages. The study of modes of animal exploitation reveals valuable information on hominin behavior."

This is the first book to provide a systematic overview of social zooarchaeology, which takes a holistic view of human-animal relations in the past. Until recently, archaeological analysis of faunal evidence has primarily focused on the role of animals in the human diet and subsistence economy. This book, however, argues that animals have always played many more roles in human societies: as wealth, companions, spirit helpers, sacrificial victims, totems, centerpieces of feasts, objects of taboos, and more. These social factors are as significant as taphonomic processes in shaping animal bone assemblages. Nerissa Russell uses evidence derived from not only zooarchaeology, but also ethnography, history and classical studies, to suggest the range of human-animal relationships and to examine their importance in human society. Through exploring the significance of animals to ancient humans, this book provides a richer picture of past societies.

British palaeontologist Thomas Davidson (1817-85) was born in Edinburgh and began his studies at the city's university. Encouraged by German palaeontologist Leopold von Buch, he began to study brachiopod fossils at the age of twenty, and he quickly became the undisputed authority. He was elected fellow of the Geological Society of London in 1852, receiving the Wollaston medal in 1865. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1857. Published between 1850 and 1886, this six-volume work became the definitive reference text on the subject. It includes more than two hundred hand-drawn plates and a comprehensive bibliography. This volume, the second of six, details the Permian and Carboniferous brachiopod species.

British palaeontologist Thomas Davidson (1817-85) was born in Edinburgh and began his studies at the city's university. Encouraged by German palaeontologist Leopold von Buch, he began to study brachiopod fossils at the age of twenty, and he quickly became the undisputed authority. He was elected fellow of the Geological Society of London in 1852, receiving the Wollaston medal in 1865. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1857. Published between 1850 and 1886, this six-volume work became the definitive reference text on the subject. It includes more than two hundred hand-drawn plates and a comprehensive bibliography. This volume, the third of six, details the Devonian and Silurian brachiopod species, and features an essay by Roderick Impey Murchison on the classification of Silurian rocks.

British palaeontologist Thomas Davidson (1817-85) was born in Edinburgh and began his studies at the city's university. Encouraged by German palaeontologist Leopold von Buch, he began to study brachiopod fossils at the age of twenty, and he quickly became the undisputed authority. He was elected fellow of the Geological Society of London in 1852, receiving the Wollaston medal in 1865. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1857. Published between 1850 and 1886, this six-volume work became the definitive reference text on the subject. It includes more than two hundred hand-drawn plates and a comprehensive bibliography. This volume, the fourth of six, is the first of two supplements providing corrections to earlier volumes and detailing species discovered since the original volumes were published.

This is the first book to provide a systematic overview of social zooarchaeology, which takes a holistic view of human-animal relations in the past. Until recently, archaeological analysis of faunal evidence has primarily focused on the role of animals in the human diet and subsistence economy. This book, however, argues that animals have always played many more roles in human societies: as wealth, companions, spirit helpers, sacrificial victims, totems, centerpieces of feasts, objects of taboos, and more. These social factors are as significant as taphonomic processes in shaping animal bone assemblages. Nerissa Russell uses evidence derived from not only zooarchaeology, but also ethnography, history and classical studies, to suggest the range of human-animal relationships and to examine their importance in human society. Through exploring the significance of animals to ancient humans, this book provides a richer picture of past societies.

Richard Owen F.R.S. (1804-92) was a controversial and influential palaeontologist and anatomist. Owen studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and at London's St Bartholomew's Hospital. He grew interested in anatomical research, and after qualifying he became assistant conservator in the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, and then superintendent of natural history in the British Museum. He quickly became an authority on comparative anatomy and palaeontology, coining the term 'dinosaur' and founding the Natural History Museum. He was also a fierce critic of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, and engaged in a long and bitter argument with Darwin's 'Bulldog', Thomas Huxley. Published in 1868, this is the third book in a highly illustrated three-volume set that comprises a thorough overview of vertebrate anatomy. This volume completes the analysis of mammalian anatomy and includes a chapter of general conclusions.

A significant limitation on the development of zoology, botany and palaeontology in the mid-nineteenth century was the absence of a centralised collection of specimens. Appointed superintendent of the British Museum's natural history departments in 1859, the distinguished biologist Richard Owen (1804-92) quickly realised the need to make various scattered samples more readily available for study, and began campaigning for a new, national museum with unprecedented space and resources. This book is the text of one of his speeches to the Royal Institution, given in 1861 and first published in 1862. He argues against the usual practice of exhibiting only one type form for each genus, provides possible floor plans, and presents case studies across the zoological field which show the limitations of the then current system. He also stresses a new idea, that such a museum should aim not only to help scientists, but to educate the general public.

Richard Owen (1804-92) was a controversial and influential palaeontologist and anatomist. During his medical studies in Edinburgh and London, he grew interested in anatomical research and, after qualifying as a surgeon, became assistant conservator in the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, and then superintendent of natural history in the British Museum. He became an authority on comparative anatomy and palaeontology, coining the term 'dinosaur' and founding the Natural History Museum. He was also a critic of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, and engaged in a long and bitter argument with Thomas Huxley, known as 'Darwin's bulldog' for his belligerent support of the theory. Published in 1846, this is Owen's comparative anatomical analysis of the fossils of British birds and mammals. It compares living species with extinct ones, and explains the characteristics that help identification, using 237 woodcut illustrations to show the traits of different species.

In this 2008 text, two of the world's leading experts in palynology and paleobotany provide a comprehensive account of the fate of land plants during the 'great extinction' about 65 million years ago. They describe how the time boundary between the Cretaceous and Paleogene Periods (the K T boundary) is recognised in the geological record, and how fossil plants can be used to understand global events of that time. There are case studies from over 100 localities around the world, including North America, China, Russia and New Zealand. The book concludes with an evaluation of possible causes of the K T boundary event and its effects on floras of the past and present. This book is written for researchers and students in paleontology, botany, geology and Earth history, and everyone who has been following the course of the extinction debate and the K T boundary paradigm shift.

Research in whale origins is now in an explosive phase, with a cascade of discoveries adding to our understanding of the evolutionary pattern and a suite of new techniques being applied to address new questions. The objective of this volume is to provide a snapshot of this explosion. The volume paints the scene with a broad brush. Taken together the chapters clearly indicate that cetacean origins is a field that is dynamic, multidisciplinary, and that the end of the explosive phase is not in sight.

Originally published in 1946, this is the eighth edition of a book that was first published in 1893. It deals, specifically, with the fossils of the Invertebrata. The general plan is to give, for each group, first, a short account of its general zoological features with a more detailed description of the hard parts of the animals; secondly, its classification and the characters of the important genera, with remarks on the affinities of some forms; and thirdly, a description of the present distribution, and the geological range. The account of each genus is followed by the enumeration of typical species, so as to guide the student in making use of a large collection. The numerous figures help to explain the structure and terminology. For a number of years, Woods' Palaeontology held its place as the standard work on the subject.

If theoretical physicists can seriously entertain canonical "standard models" even for the big-bang generation of the entire universe, why cannot life scientists reach a consensus on how life has emerged and settled on this planet? Scientists are hindered by conceptual gaps between bottom-up inferences (from early Earth geological conditions) and top-down extrapolations (from modern life forms to common ancestral states). This book challenges several widely held assumptions and argues for alternative approaches instead. Primal syntheses (literally or figuratively speaking) are called for in at least five major areas. (1) The first RNA-like molecules may have been selected by solar light as being exceptionally photostable. (2) Photosynthetically active minerals and reduced phosphorus compounds could have efficiently coupled the persistent natural energy flows to the primordial metabolism. (3) Stochastic, uncoded peptides may have kick-started an ever-tightening co-evolution of proteins and nucleic acids. (4) The living fossils from the primeval RNA World thrive within modern cells. (5) From the inherently complex protocellular associations preceding the consolidation of integral genomes, eukaryotic cell organization may have evolved more naturally than simple prokaryote-like life forms. - If this book can motivate dedicated researchers to further explore the alternative mechanisms presented, it will have served its purpose well.

Computational paleontology is simply a term applied to using computers and its facilities in the field of paleontology. However, we should be exactly precise in describing the term through explaining the main themes of this motivating and attractive scientific field. The uppermost aim of this book is to explain how computation could be competent in fetching fossils to life and the past to present. Computers for paleontologists save time and costs, interpret mysterious events precisely and accurately, visualize the ancient life definitely and undeniably.

This volume celebrates the contributions of Dr. Eugene Gaffney to the study of turtles, through a diverse and complementary collection of papers that showcases the latest research on one of the most intriguing groups of reptiles. A mix of focused and review papers deals with numerous aspects of the evolutionary history of turtles, including embryonic development, origins, early diversification, phylogenetic relationships, and biogeography. Moreover it includes reports on important but poorly understood fossil turtle assemblages, provides historical perspectives on turtle research, and documents disease and variation in turtles. With its broad scope, which includes descriptions of material and new taxa from Australia, Asia, and Europe, as well as North and South America, this work will be an essential resource for anyone interested in the morphology and evolution of turtles. "This volume's breadth of time, geography, and taxonomic coverage makes it a major contribution to the field and a 'must have' for all vertebrate paleontologists.", James F. Parham, California State University, CA, USA "A comprehensive and sweeping overview of turtle evolution by the top experts in the field that will interest everyone curious about these unique reptiles." Jason S. Anderson, University of Calgary, Canada "An invaluable addition to the literature that covers the full spectrum of approaches toward understanding the evolution of these noble creatures." Ann C. Burke, Wesleyan University, CT , USA "A truly comprehensive volume that both the student of fossil turtles, as well as the general reader interested in these enigmatic creatures, will find fascinating." Tyler Lyson, Yale University, CT, USA

First published in 1883, this study of the fossils of Upware and Brickhill originally appeared in 1879 as the Sedgwick Prize Essay for that year. Its author, Walter Keeping, was an expert in the Neocomian faunas of Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire, and in this comparative study he examines the close palaeontological relationship between the Ironsand and Phosphatic series of fossils found at Upware, Potton, Brickhill, and Farringdon. He goes on to explore the resemblance of Upware oysters to Jurassic species, the distribution of Brachiopod shells, and the difficulties that arise when attempting to date fossils. Containing tables of vertebrate and invertebrate examples from England and Europe as well as an eight-plate section of detailed illustrations, this volume will be of value to anyone interested in geological and palaeontological studies from the nineteenth century.

Comprising the first definitive account of the geological and palaeometeorological studies made by the British geologist, Frederic W. Harmer (1835-1924) this book contributes a previously missing chapter to the history of science. The main objective of the author is to ensure that the scientific work of Harmer, which unfortunately has been widely neglected or forgotten, becomes more generally known and acknowledged. The balance of this deficiency will be redressed by bringing to light in this volume his contributions to the history of science to an audience of academic and lay readers of the current literature.

That humans originated from Africa is well-known. However, this is widely regarded as a chance outcome, dependant simply on where our common ancestor shared the land with where the great apes lived. This volume builds on from the 'Out of Africa' theory, and takes the view that it is only in Africa that the evolutionary transitions from a forest-inhabiting frugivore to savanna-dwelling meat-eater could have occurred. This book argues that the ecological circumstances that shaped these transitions are exclusive to Africa. It describes distinctive features of the ecology of Africa, with emphasis on savanna grasslands, and relates them to the evolutionary transitions linking early ape-men to modern humans. It shows how physical features of the continent, especially those derived from plate tectonics, set the foundations. This volume adequately conveys that we are here because of the distinctive features of the ecology of Africa.

This book brings together for the first time the published information on the Quaternary cold stage flora of over eighty sites in Britain and Ireland to present a factual cold stage flora from the fossil record. The data provides a basis for an interpretation of the flora, vegetation, and environments of some of the most extraordinary periods in the earth's most recent history, now only seen in the imperfect mirror of today's Arctic. This important study aims to reveal the nature of an environment, relatively stable, but completely different to that of today. As such, it will be significant to those interested in the Quaternary and also to a wider audience of those studying the present flora, fauna and environment, including climate and climatic change. A CD-ROM with a database of the cold stage flora in searchable format is included.

It is difficult for today's students of archaeology to imagine an era when chronometric dating methods were unavailable. However, even a casual perusal of the large body of literature that arose during the first half of the twentieth century reveals a battery of clever methods used to determine the relative ages of archaeological phenomena, often with considerable precision. Stratigraphic excavation is perhaps the best known of the various relative-dating methods used by prehistorians. Although there are several techniques of using artifacts from superposed strata to measure time, these are rarely if ever differentiated. Rather, common practice is to categorize them under the heading `stratigraphic excavation'. This text distinguishes among the several techniques and argues that stratigraphic excavation tends to result in discontinuous measures of time - a point little appreciated by modern archaeologists. Although not as well known as stratigraphic excavation, two other methods of relative dating have figured important in Americanist archaeology: seriation and the use of index fossils. The latter (like stratigraphic excavation) measures time discontinuously, while the former - in various guises - measures time continuously. Perhaps no other method used in archaeology is as misunderstood as seriation, and the authors provide detailed descriptions and examples of each of its three different techniques. Each method and technique of relative dating is placed in historical perspective, with particular focus on developments in North America, an approach that allows a more complete understanding of the methods described, both in terms of analytical technique and disciplinary history. This text will appeal to all archaeologists, from graduate students to seasoned professionals, who want to learn more about the backbone of archaeological dating.

The Quaternary comprises a brief time in the Earth's history, and apart from a few exceptions, molluscan assemblages recovered from exposures along the coast of Southwestern South America (Southern Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina) are essentially the same than those that inhabit the region today, leading to the assumption that no important change in the distribution of the faunas since Pleistocene times has occurred. However, the good taxonomic and temporal resolution reached in the last years, allowed us to detect some biogeographic changes, although traditional biogeographic units remain the same (i.e. Magellanic and Argentinean Provinces). These modifications involve mainly variations in the taxonomic composition of the assemblages and in the southern boundaries of some species distributions (extralimital species), today retracted northwards. These changes are related to southward shifts of the warm waters of the Brazilian Current, correlated with global warm peaks. This phenomenon was more intense in the Late Pleistocene (MIS 5e) and in the Holocene between ca. 6500-3500 14C yr.

A. C. Seward (1863 1941) was an eminent English geologist and botanist who pioneered the study of palaeobotany. After graduating from St John's College, Cambridge, in 1886 Seward was appointed a University Lecturer in Botany in 1890. In 1898 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and was appointed Professor of Botany in 1906. These volumes, published to great acclaim between 1898 and 1919, provide a detailed discussion and study of an emerging science. In the early nineteenth century, research and critical literature concerning palaeobotany was scattered across disciplines. In these volumes Seward synthesised and revised this research and also included a substantial amount of new material. Furnished with concise descriptions of fossil plants, detailed figures and extensive bibliographies these volumes became the standard reference for palaeobotany well into the twentieth century. Volume 1, published in 1898, contains an overview of palaeobotany with systematic descriptions of fossil plants.

A. C. Seward (1863 1941) was an eminent English geologist and botanist who pioneered the study of palaeobotany. After graduating from St John's College, Cambridge, in 1886 Seward was appointed a University Lecturer in Botany in 1890. In 1898 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and was appointed Professor of Botany in 1906. These volumes, published to great acclaim between 1898 and 1919, provide a detailed discussion and study of an emerging science. In the early nineteenth century, research and critical literature concerning palaeobotany was scattered across disciplines. In these volumes Seward synthesised and revised this research and also included a substantial amount of new material. Furnished with concise descriptions of fossil plants, detailed figures and extensive bibliographies these volumes became the standard reference for palaeobotany well into the twentieth century. Volume 2, first published in 1910, contains systematic descriptions of fossil ferns.

A. C. Seward (1863 1941) was an eminent English geologist and botanist who pioneered the study of palaeobotany. After graduating from St John's College, Cambridge, in 1886 Seward was appointed a University Lecturer in Botany in 1890. In 1898 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and was appointed Professor of Botany in 1906. These volumes, published to great acclaim between 1898 and 1919, provide a detailed discussion and study of an emerging science. In the early nineteenth century, research and critical literature concerning palaeobotany was scattered across disciplines. In these volumes Seward synthesised and revised this research and also included a substantial amount of new material. Furnished with concise descriptions of fossil plants, detailed figures and extensive bibliographies these volumes became the standard reference for palaeobotany well into the twentieth century. Volume 3, first published in 1917, contains systematic descriptions of fossil seed plants.