Fossil Legends of the First Americans

Fossil Legends of the First Americans

Author: Adrienne Mayor

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2013-10-24

Total Pages: 489

ISBN-13: 1400849314

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The burnt-red badlands of Montana's Hell Creek are a vast graveyard of the Cretaceous dinosaurs that lived 68 million years ago. Those hills were, much later, also home to the Sioux, the Crows, and the Blackfeet, the first people to encounter the dinosaur fossils exposed by the elements. What did Native Americans make of these stone skeletons, and how did they explain the teeth and claws of gargantuan animals no one had seen alive? Did they speculate about their deaths? Did they collect fossils? Beginning in the East, with its Ice Age monsters, and ending in the West, where dinosaurs lived and died, this richly illustrated and elegantly written book examines the discoveries of enormous bones and uses of fossils for medicine, hunting magic, and spells. Well before Columbus, Native Americans observed the mysterious petrified remains of extinct creatures and sought to understand their transformation to stone. In perceptive creation stories, they visualized the remains of extinct mammoths, dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and marine creatures as Monster Bears, Giant Lizards, Thunder Birds, and Water Monsters. Their insights, some so sophisticated that they anticipate modern scientific theories, were passed down in oral histories over many centuries. Drawing on historical sources, archaeology, traditional accounts, and extensive personal interviews, Adrienne Mayor takes us from Aztec and Inca fossil tales to the traditions of the Iroquois, Navajos, Apaches, Cheyennes, and Pawnees. Fossil Legends of the First Americans represents a major step forward in our understanding of how humans made sense of fossils before evolutionary theory developed.


Oceans of Kansas

Oceans of Kansas

Author: Michael J. Everhart

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2017-09-11

Total Pages: 458

ISBN-13: 0253027152

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“Excellent . . . Those who are interested in vertebrate paleontology or in the scientific history of the American midwest should really get a copy.” —PalArch’s Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology Revised, updated, and expanded with the latest interpretations and fossil discoveries, the second edition of Oceans of Kansas adds new twists to the fascinating story of the vast inland sea that engulfed central North America during the Age of Dinosaurs. Giant sharks, marine reptiles called mosasaurs, pteranodons, and birds with teeth all flourished in and around these shallow waters. Their abundant and well-preserved remains were sources of great excitement in the scientific community when first discovered in the 1860s and continue to yield exciting discoveries 150 years later. Michael J. Everhart vividly captures the history of these startling finds over the decades and re-creates in unforgettable detail these animals from our distant past and the world in which they lived—above, within, and on the shores of America’s ancient inland sea. “Oceans of Kansas remains the best and only book of its type currently available. Everhart’s treatment of extinct marine reptiles synthesizes source materials far more readably than any other recent, nontechnical book-length study of the subject.” —Copeia “[The book] will be most useful to fossil collectors working in the local region and to historians of vertebrate paleontology . . . Recommended.” —Choice


High Plains of Northeastern New Mexico

High Plains of Northeastern New Mexico

Author: William R. Muehlberger

Publisher: New Mexico Bureau of Geology & Mineral Resources

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 118

ISBN-13:

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This is the newest Scenic Trip to be published by the bureau and follows the format of the 2003 Albuquerque Scenic Trip (number 18), which was the first to be published in the newly redesigned series. In addition to two introductory chapters (on Volcanoes of Northeastern New Mexico and The Geologic History of Northeastern New Mexico), the book contains four detailed road logs from Raton to Clayton. Like all of the books in this series, the book includes information on the rich cultural heritage of the region, including the Folsom site, one of the most significant Paleo-Indian sites in North America, and the Santa Fe Trail. Richly illustrated with color photos and illustrations as well as historic black-and-white photos, the book provides a look at one of the least visited parts of New Mexico, giving the reader a new appreciation for this corner of the state.