Category: fossils

BOOK REVIEWS england fossils geology minerals mining palaeontology

The Southern Pennines, by John Collinson and Roy Rosen (Classic Geology in Europe 13)

The Classic Geology in Europe series has, over many years, established a distinctive and reliable identity: authoritative regional syntheses written by specialists, designed for geologists who want to understand landscapes through field observation rather than armchair generalities. The Southern Pennines sits comfortably within that tradition and, in several respects, exemplifies the mature strengths of the series.

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The weird and wonderful of the Pre-Cambrian (Part 2): Strelley Pool stromatolites – among the oldest signs of life

Jon Trevelyan (UK) This is the second of my series of short articles on fossils of the Pre-Cambrian. The Strelley Pool stromatolites, preserved in the ~3.45-billion-year-old Strelley Pool Formation of Western Australia, rank among the oldest widely accepted macroscopic evidence of life. Formed on shallow marine carbonate platforms during the … Read More

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Geology museums of mainland Europe: Agios Georgios Cave, Kilkis: 50 years of history – 30,000 years of prehistory

Vassilis Makridis (Greece), Evangelia Tsoukala (Greece), Evangelos Vlachos (Greece), Katerina Tsekoura (Greece), Wilrie van Logchem (The Netherlands) and Dick Mol (The Netherlands) In northern Greece, 45km north of Thessaloniki, one of the few public caves in Northern Greece is situated in the Agios Georgios Hill, near Kilkis (Figs. 1 and … Read More

BOOK REVIEWS england fossils geology palaeontology scotland

Book review: Fossils on the Seashore: Beachcombing and Palaeontology, by Stephen K Donovan

At first glance, the title might mislead you into expecting a simple guide to finding fossils while strolling along the beach – a sort of field companion for holiday rock-hunters. But Stephen Donovan’s Fossils on the Seashore is a very different creature. It’s not about collecting curiosities for the mantelpiece. It’s about understanding the dynamic relationship between the living and the fossil record, and how coastlines act as natural laboratories for palaeontological and neoichnological study

BOOK REVIEWS dinosaurs fossils geology palaeontology

The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs: Unearthing the Real Behaviors of Prehistoric Animals, by Dean R Lomax (author), Robert Nicholls (illustrator)

There are few books (and indeed writers) that have managed to bring fossils, fieldwork anecdotes, scientific rigour and humour together as effortlessly as The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs, Dean R Lomax’s newest offering (with art word by Bob Nicholls). It is more than just a compendium of strange fossils – it’s an invitation to look behind the display cases, to the lives of creatures long vanished (and not just dinosaurs as the title suggests).

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Book review: At the Foot of the Himalayas: Paleontology and Ecosystem Dynamics of the Siwalik Record, by Catherine Badgley (editor), Michèle E. Morgan (editor) and David Pilbeam (editor)

Have you ever wished to time-travel to the Miocene while armed with a PhD and a GPS unit? Well, At the Foot of the Himalayas is your next best thing. This sweeping but masterfully integrated volume brings the Siwalik Hills – the sediment-rich, fossil-packed foothills of the Himalayas – into sharp scientific focus.