African Dinosaurs Unearthed The Tendaguru Expeditions [Hardcover]

From 1907 to 1931 at Tendaguru, a remote site in present-day Tanzania, teams of German (and later British) paleontologists unearthed 220 tons of fossils, including the bones of a new dinosaur, one of the largest then known. For decades the mounted skeleton of this giant, Brachiosaurus, was the largest skeleton of a land animal on exhibit in the world. The dinosaur and other animal fossils found at Tendaguru form one of the cornerstones of our understanding of life in the Mesozoic era. Visited sporadically during the 30s and 40s, Tendaguru again became the site of scientific interest late in the 20th century. African Dinosaurs Unearthed tells the story of driven scientific adventurers working under difficult conditions and often paying the price with their healthand sometimes with their lives. Set against the background of a troubled century, the book reveals how scientific endeavors were carried on through war and political turmoil, and continue into the present day.

Gerhard Maier has spent ten years working in archaeology and vertebrate paleontology. Formerly a technician at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, he now works as a data analyst for a major oil company. A lifelong interest in dinosaurs, travel, and history has culminated in this volume.

Preliminary Table of Contents:
Preface
1. 1907: Fraas and Something Curious in the African Bush
2. 1908: Von Branca and a Matter of National Honour
3. 1909: Janensch, Hennig, and a Cemetery of Giants
4. 1909-1910: Geology in the Rain and Comets, Stegosaurs, and Iguanodonts
5. 1911: Along the Railway and Expansion, Exhaustion, and Completion?
6. 1911-1912: A Museum Overflows - The Recks find Iguanodonts, Pterosaurs, and a Fossilized Forest
7. 1913lc›