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.

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.

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.

This book should be of interest to teachers, students and researchers in paleontology, biology, evolutionary biology, zoology and cell biology.

Taphonomic bias is a pervasive feature of the fossil record. A pressing concern, however, is the extent to which taphonomic processes have varied through the ages. It is one thing to work with a biased data set and quite another to work with a bias that has changed with time. This book includes work from both new and established researchers who are using laboratory, field and data-base techniques to characterise and quantify the temporal and spatial variation in taphonomic bias. It may not provide all the answers but it will at least shed light on the right questions.

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.

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 4, first published in 1919, contains systematic descriptions of fossil ginkgoales and coniferales.

The Mjolnir impact structure was recognized in 1993 and included in the Earth Impact Database in 1996, based on the discoveries of unequivocal meteorite impact indicators such as shocked quartz, Ir-enrichments, possible glass remnants, fragments of nickel-rich iron oxides, in addition to the convincing complex crater shape of the structure. This book presents the geological and geophysical history of the Barents Sea region along with the discovery of the Mjolnir impact crater. We place the Mjolnir event into the geological framework of the region and present elaborative numerical models of its formation and associated tsunami generation. The book represents an update and synthesis as well as the complete compilation of the Mjolnir crater studies. "

This 1971 volume presents the proceedings of a Symposium of Micropalaeontology of Marine Bottom Sediments held in Cambridge, England, in September 1967. The collection and paleontological interpretations of deep-sea sediments had only been carried out intensively for the twenty years preceding the book's publication, and it provides a summary of the state of knowledge in this field as it stood. Beginning with a consideration of the organisms in relation to the water in which they live, successive chapters deal with the descent of the skeletons to the sea floor, their entombment in the sediments and their interpretation to elucidate the history of the oceans. It is written by many of the specialists responsible for the development of this field and includes numerous Russian contributions. This book became the definitive compendium for students and workers in oceanography and palaeontology, and is still a useful resource today.

A top priority in climate research is obtaining broad-extent and long-term data to support analyses of historical patterns and trends, and for model development and evaluation. Along with directly measured climate data from the present and recent past, it is important to obtain estimates of long past climate variations spanning multiple centuries and millennia. These longer time perspectives are needed for assessing the unusualness of recent climate changes, as well as for providing insight on the range, variation and overall dynamics of the climate system over time spans exceeding available records from instruments, such as rain gauges and thermometers. Tree rings have become increasingly valuable in providing this long-term information because extensive data networks have been developed in temperate and boreal zones of the Earth, and quantitative methods for analyzing these data have advanced. Tree rings are among the most useful paleoclimate information sources available because they provide a high degree of chronological accuracy, high replication, and extensive spatial coverage spanning recent centuries. With the expansion and extension of tree-ring data and analytical capacity new climatic insights from tree rings are being used in a variety of applications, including for interpretation of past changes in ecosystems and human societies. This volume presents an overview of the current state of dendroclimatology, its contributions over the last 30 years, and its future potential. The material included is useful not only to those who generate tree-ring records of past climate-dendroclimatologists, but also to users of their results-climatologists, hydrologists, ecologists and archeologists. 'With the pressing climatic questions of the 21st century demanding a deeper understanding of the climate system and our impact upon it, this thoughtful volume comes at critical moment. It will be of fundamental importance in not only guiding researchers, but in educating scientists and the interested lay person on the both incredible power and potential pitfalls of reconstructing climate using tree-ring analysis.', Glen M. MacDonald, UCLA Institute of the Environment, CA, USA 'This is an up-to-date treatment of all branches of tree-ring science, by the world's experts in the field, reminding us that tree rings are the most important source of proxy data on climate change. Should be read by all budding dendrochronology scientists.', Alan Robock, Rutgers University, NJ, USA

I see a man's life is a tedious one. Cymbeline, Act III, Sc. 6. It is well known that the best way to learn a subject is to teach it! Along the same lines one might also say that a pleasant way of learning a subject and at the same time getting to know quite a few of the workers active in it, is to arrange and to attend an Advanced Study Institute (ASI) or a workshop lasting about two weeks. This was and is the wisdom behind the NA TO-ASI programme and much as people fear that a fortnight may be too long, before it is over everyone feels that it was too short, especially if the weather had cooperated. Organising this ASI which resulted in this volume has been a very good learning experience. I started my career in research with invertebrates and retained an interest in them over the years due to my teaching a course and working sporadically on various aspects of photoreception in Polychaetes, Crustaceans and Insects. Thus, the thought of organising an ASI on photoreception and vision in invertebrates had been brewing in my mind for the past half a dozen years or so. It was felt that it will be desirable to do a bit of stock taking and discuss possible new approaches to the study of this matter.

On the basis of extensive material in the form of letters, pamphlets and the recollections of friends and contemporaries, Jules Marcou (1824-1898) tells the story of the life and work of Louis Agassiz in this two-volume work of 1896. The Swiss-born palaeontologist, glaciologist and zoologist (1807-1873) is regarded as one of the founding fathers of the modern American scientific tradition. Marcou, a fellow countryman and collaborator of Agassiz, does not attempt to conceal his high regard for the subject of his biography but does have 'in view the truth'. In a chronological narrative, Volume 1 traces the childhood and early professional success of Agassiz, including his charming of the great von Humboldt. It describes Agassiz' time as professor in Switzerland and his marriage, ending with the arrival of Agassiz in America and his first attempts at forging a university career there.

On the basis of extensive material in the form of letters, pamphlets and the recollections of friends and contemporaries, Jules Marcou (1824-1898) tells the story of the life and work of Louis Agassiz in this two-volume work of 1896. The Swiss-born palaeontologist, glaciologist and zoologist (1807-1873) is regarded as one of the founding fathers of the modern American scientific tradition. Marcou, a fellow countryman and collaborator of Agassiz, does not attempt to conceal his high regard for the subject of his biography but does have 'in view the truth'. In a chronological narrative, Volume 2 tells of Agassiz' professorship at Harvard and the founding in 1859 of the Museum of Contemporary Zoology, where he remained as director until his death. Although Darwin believed the Swiss scientist's theory on parallelisms provided evidence for evolution, Agassiz was no evolutionist but saw the plan of God everywhere in nature.

The Quaternary has been a period of major climatic and environmental oscillations, and our knowledge of these past variations is important for our understanding of the possible impact of human activity on the present-day environment. First published in 1999, Quaternary Climates, Environments and Magnetism presents an account of the rich variety of uses of magnetic measurements in the environmental geosciences. Ten chapters by leading world authorities describe the highlights of environmental magnetic work during the last decade and identify directions for future research. Emphasis is placed on a multidisciplinary approach to achieve a more thorough understanding of the environmental processes involved. This volume will be of interest to research scientists from a wide range of disciplines working on Quaternary environments, including earth and environmental sciences, physical geology, geography and palaeoclimatology. It will also be valuable as a supplementary text for graduates and advanced undergraduates.

Originally published by Cambridge in 1991, this book is a translation of a unique Russian study of fossil plant distributions in the Jurassic and Cretaceous world. The core of the work is the description and assessment of floras of the USSR, China and Japan. Information on the floras of this extensive and productive area had hitherto been available only in scattered and sometimes obscure Russian journals. Vakhrameev also summarises the more familiar Western work and divides the continents into regions and provinces illustrating the palaeolatitudinal climatic arrangement of floras. The work deals first with megafossil plants and with land plant palynomorphs. The time covered from 200 to 65 million years ago ranges both before and immediately after the main angiosperm radiation from about 130 to 100 million years ago. Vakhrameev's work represents a vast source of data, which will be of interest to any student of Mesozoic seed plants.

This volume is one outcome of the 6th International Conference on Paleoceano graphy (ICP VI). The conference was held August 23-28, 1998 in Lisbon, Portugal. The meeting followed the traditional format of a small number of invited oral presentations complemented by a large number ofcontributed posters. Over 550 participants attended, representing thirty countries and nearly 450 posters were presented. The invited speakers addressed the main themes of the 5oral sessions. The session topics were: Polar-Tropical and Interhemisphere Linkages; Does the Ocean Cause, or Respond to, Abrupt Climatic Changes?; Biotic Responses to Major Paleoceanographic Changes; Past Warm Climates; and Innovations In Monitoring Ocean History. This is the first time in ICP history that the Conference Proceedings are published. The aim of the organisers with the publication of this book is two-fold: to provide a useful review of the field and to document the ideas/controversies raised during the con ference that may stimulate future work. The book reflects the initial intentions of the conference, but it is not a conven tional conference proceedings, given that the papers have been reviewed by formal exter nal referees. Each of the conference topics is introduced by a review article designed to summarize the state of the art in each theme followed by articles prepared by the invited speakers. As with most conference proceedings, each theme is covered heterogenously. Some topics have all the expected contributions, others are less well covered."

Holywell Coombe, an embayment in the chalk scarp overlooking Folkestone, Kent, was designated a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1985 because it contains richly fossiliferous Late Quaternary sediments providing a unique archive of the last 13,000 years. The construction of the Channel Tunnel across the Holywell Coombe SSSI brought about a major rescue excavation, funded by Eurotunnel, that set an important precedent in Earth Science conservation. This multidisciplinary investigation has added enormously to our understanding of the environment and natural history of the Late-glacial and Holocene. The climatic complexity of the Late-glacial is recorded in the nature of the sediments, the fossils recovered from them and the soils developed within them. From the Neolithic, and especially during the Early Bronze Age, the slopes were destabilized as a result of forest clearance, leading to the accumulation of hillwash. Archaeological excavations in the hillwash have revealed evidence of prehistoric occupation and agricultural activity in the coombe. Eurotunnel also funded biological surveys of the local terrestrial and aquatic habitats. Combining these with the fossil evidence, it has been possible to document the pedigree of our present fauna and flora, providing one of the most detailed and comprehensive studies of its kind. With contributions from eminent Quaternary scientists from several countries, this work will be an important resource for researchers, lecturers and postgraduate students in Quaternary sciences - geology, geography, biology, ecology and archaeology - as well as for government bodies concerned with nature conservation and environmental protection.

The transition from the Eocene to the Oligocene epochs was the most significant event in earth history since the extinction of dinosaurs. As the first Antarctic ice sheets appeared, major extinctions and faunal turnovers took place on the land and in the sea, eliminating forms adapted to a tropical world and replacing them with the ancestors of most of our modern animal and plant life. Through a detailed study of climatic conditions and of organisms buried in Eocene-Oligocene sediments, this volume shows that the separation of Antarctica from Australia was a critical factor in changing oceanic circulation and ultimately world climate. In this book forty-eight leading scientists examine the full range of Eocene and Oligocene phenomena. Their articles cover nearly every major group of organisms in the ocean and on land and include evidence from paleontology, stable isotopes, sedimentology, seismology, and computer climatic modeling. The volume concludes with an update of the geochronologic framework of the late Paleogene.

Originally published in 1992.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

From the Foreword: "Predator-prey interactions are among the most significant of all organism-organism interactions....It will only be by compiling and evaluating data on predator-prey relations as they are recorded in the fossil record that we can hope to tease apart their role in the tangled web of evolutionary interaction over time. This volume, compiled by a group of expert specialists on the evidence of predator-prey interactions in the fossil record, is a pioneering effort to collate the information now accumulating in this important field. It will be a standard reference on which future study of one of the central dynamics of ecology as seen in the fossil record will be built." (Richard K. Bambach, Professor Emeritus, Virginia Tech, Associate of the Botanical Museum, Harvard University)

Phylogenetic analysis and morphometrics have been developed by biologists into rigorous analytic tools for testing hypotheses about the relationships between groups of species. This book applies these tools to paleontological data. The fossil record is our one true chronicle of the history of life, preserving a set of macroevolutionary patterns; thus various hypotheses about evolutionary processes can be tested in the fossil record using phylogentic analysis and morphometrics. The first book of its type, Fossils, Phylogeny, and Form will be useful in evolutionary biology, paleontology, systematics, evolutionary development, theoretical biology, biogeography, and zoology. It will also provide a practical, researcher-friendly gateway into computer-based phylogenetics and morphometrics.

John William Salter (1820 1869) was an English naturalist and geologist, best known for his work as palaeontologist to the Geological Survey of Great Britain. This is a complete catalogue of the Cambrian and Silurian fossils in the Geological Museum at the University of Cambridge. Preceded by a detailed introductory section on the Pal ozoic system, the catalogue is arranged by geological strata, covering the various groups of Cambrian and Silurian fossils. The entries include detailed illustrations, along with references to the location of each fossil in the collection, its name and details of its place of origin. Revised by staff of the University and published posthumously in 1873, the catalogue also contains a substantial preface by Adam Sedgwick, famous for his role in the development of modern geology, which provides fascinating insights into the geological advances of the Victorian era.

Published in 1931 to complement Seward's magisterial four-volume textbook Fossil Plants, this book is a digest of his earlier detailed study, written for a non-specialist audience as an introduction to the field of palaeobotany. Seward begins by describing the basics of geology and palaeobotany in order to explain how the interpretation of fossilised plant remains found in rocks can shed light on the natural world of prehistoric times. He then covers geological periods in chronological sequence, from the Pre-Cambrian to the Quaternary. Throughout, he emphasises the fragmentary nature of the evidence and the difficulties in extrapolating from the surviving fossil record, but he also explains the great discoveries made in the field and how they came about. The accompanying drawings give an impression of the likely combinations of plants found in each period, allowing the reader to visualise the different landscapes evoked in Seward's engaging prose.