Dinosaurs of Darkness

by Rich, Thomas H.

• ISBN13: 9780253337733
• ISBN10: 0253337739
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-10-01
• Publisher: Indiana Univ Pr

Summary

Dinosaurs of DarknessThomas H. Rich and Patricia Vickers-RichThe discovery of the polar dinosaurs and the world in which they lived.Dinosaurs of Darkness opens a doorway to a fascinating former world, which existed in Australia between 100 million and 120 million years ago, when Australia was far south of its present location and joined to Antarctica. Over the past two decades, scientists have determined that dinosaurs lived in this polar region.The way we have come to know about this lost world -- so different from any that exists on Earth today -- makes for a fascinating story. Thomas H. Rich and Patricia Vickers-Rich. who played crucial roles in this discovery, describe their efforts to collect the fossils indispensable to our knowledge of this realm and the laboratory work that unlocked the secrets of these fossils. And they report on the activities of hundreds of other individuals who helped shaped the outcome. Their journey of scientific adventure is full of the ambiguities of life; it begins with one destination in mind and ends at another, arrived at by a most roundabout route, down byways and back from dead ends. Dinosaurs of Darkness is a personal account of the way scientific research is actually conducted and how hard it is to mine the knowledge of this remarkable life of the past.Thomas H. Rich is Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at Museum Victoria in Melbourne and coauthor (with Patricia Vickers-Rich) of Wildlife of Gondwana: Dinosaurs and Other Vertebrates from the Ancient Supercontinent (Indiana University Press).Patricia Vickers-Rich holds a Chair in Paleontology at Monash University, where she lectures in the Earth Sciences Department.Life of the Past -- James O. Farlow, editorContentsDinosaur CoveThe Crossing of the Rubicon: The Excavation of 1984Back to Dinosaur CoveInterludeUnderground at Dinosaur CoveNew ExplorationsRestoring the Life of the PastThe First Last Excavation of Dinosaur CoveOther Eggs, Other BasketsAn Unexpected Surprise

Author Biography

THOMAS H. RICH is Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at Museum Victoria in Melbourne and co-author (with Patricia Vickers-Rich) of Wildlife of Gondwana: Dinosaurs and Other Vertebrates from the Ancient Supercontinent, also published by Indiana University Press.

PATRICIA VICKERS-RICH hold a Chair in Paleontology at Monash University, where she lectures in the Earth Sciences department.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Frank C. Whitmore, Jr.
Preface	xi
Acknowledgments	xiii
Dinosaur Cove	1	(18)
The Crossing of the Rubicon	19	(8)
Back to Dinosaur Cove	27	(32)
Interlude	59	(10)
Underground at Dinosaur Cove	69	(26)
New Explorations	95	(16)
Restoring Life of the Past	111	(8)
The First Last Excavation of Dinosaur Cove	119	(12)
Other Eggs, Other Baskets	131	(12)
An Unexpected Surprise	143	(16)
Getting through the Winter	159	(20)
Where Are We Now; Where Are We Going?	179	(10)
Afterthoughts	189	(16)
Notes	205	(6)
Literature Cited	211	(4)
Index	215