African Dinosaurs Unearthed

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 health and 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.

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"Gerhard Maier's African Dinosaurs Unearthed details exactly how one of the world's biggest caches of dinosaur fossils was excavated and recovered... a fascinating story well told by a professional palaeontologist who really knows what he is writing about."--New Scientist "In African Dinosaurs Unearthed, Gerhard Maier presents the full, detailed story of the Tendaguru excavations, from the discovery of the site by Bernhard Sattler in 1906 to the most recent works of 2001. Historical reviews of Tendaguru have been published before (e.g., Zils et al. 1995), but nothing as detailed as this. The volume will certainly be the standard reference on the history of Tendaguru from here on, and while it would prove enjoyable reading to anyone interested in historical palaeontology, or indeed the history of colonial Africa, it is also almost a technical volume with meticulously detailed source notes and a complete bibliography." Darren Naish, Scientific American "I thoroughly enjoyed African Dinosaurs Unearthed and recommend it to anyone interested in the history of research on Mesozoic fauna. As a story of personal toil in the African bush, as a detailed source on Hennig, Janensch, Cutler and other palaeontologists, as a story of palaeontological discovery, and as a meticulous documentation of the history and discoveries of Tendaguru, it exceeds expectations and sets a high standard." Palaeontological Newsletter, Issue 56

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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. 1913-1918: Fresh Discoveries and a Bitter War 8. 1919-1924: The British Museum in Tanganyika Territory 9. 1924-1925: Cutler, Leakey, and a Difficult Start 10. 1925: Berlin Builds Dinosaurs 11. 1925: A Death in Africa 12. 1925: Migeod - A New Recruit 13. 1925-1926: An Expedition Saved 14. 1926-1927: Berlin in Chaos and Parkinson Reviews Stratigraphy 15. 1927-1929: Kenyan Interlude, Geology at Tendaguru, and Desperate Finances 16. 1929: Migeod Returns 17. 1930: Migeod and Parrington, Tendaguru and Nyasaland 18. 1931-1939: Hennig Returns and Berlin's Museum Triumphs 19. 1939-1976: Destruction and Renewal 20. 1971-2001: Russell to Africa, Brachiosaurus to Tokyo, Berlin to Tendaguru 21. A Significant Contribution Notes; References; Index

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