PALEONTOLGY IN THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST–by Kristy McCaffrey

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Paleontology is the branch of science focused on fossilized animals and plants, or the study of ancient life. It lies on the border between biology and geology, and in the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was usually part of the geology department at many universities because fossils were important for dating rocks.

Dinosaurs lived during the Mesozoic Era (sometimes called “the Age of Reptiles”), which spanned from 252 million to 66 million years ago. It was comprised of the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous Periods. Early dinosaurs emerged in the Triassic, but they were quite small. Giants such as Tyrannosaurus rex and enormous sauropods like Brontosaurus lived during the late Jurassic and Cretaceous.

 

 

The first professor of paleontology in the United States was Othniel Charles Marsh. He served as professor of vertebrate paleontology at Yale University beginning in 1866. At the Peabody Museum at Yale, he was the first to create skeletal displays of dinosaurs, which are now common in countless museums of natural history.

Marsh and his many fossil hunters were able to uncover about 500 new species of fossil animals, which were all later named by Marsh himself in nearly 400 scientific articles he published during his career.? In May 1871, Marsh uncovered the first pterosaur fossils found in America, along with Cretaceous and Jurassic dinosaurs such as Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Brontosaurus, Apatosaurus, and Allosaurus.

Marsh was at the front of the Bone Wars, a period of intense and competitive fossil hunting in the U.S. from 1877 to 1892. His main rival was Edward Drinker Cope of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. They both used bribery, theft, and destruction of bones to outdo the other, while also directing attacks through scientific publications. In the end, both men were financially and socially ruined. Marsh died on March 18, 1899, a few years after his great rival Cope.

 

 

There is wide consensus today that birds evolved from small specialized coelurosaurian theropods, a dinosaur clade characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb, and today are represented by over 10,500 living species. The most well-known theropod, T. rex, has more in common with modern-day chickens than to a crocodile. Birds and theropods both shared wishbones, likely incubated their eggs, had hollow bones, and were covered in feathers.

In my new release, THE CANARY, the search is on in the Painted Desert of Arizona Territory for fossils of Coelophysis, a small bipedal carnivore theropod from the Triassic period and one of the earliest dinosaurs to walk the earth. It was similar to the velociraptors of the much later Cretaceous Period.

 

Arizona Territory

1899

Sarah Ryan grew up in Texas digging up animal bones and potsherds, but she always dreamed of searching for the extraordinary dinosaur fossils in the American West. When a wealthy benefactress gives her the opportunity to join the team of esteemed paleontologist Dr. Allan Brenner, she eagerly accepts. But when she arrives in the wild and wooly town of Holbrook, Arizona Territory, ready to start digging, she’s faced with the very real obstacle of being a female in a world dominated by men.

Dr. Jack Brenner is looking for his father who disappeared into the Painted Desert two months ago. Mounting an expedition to find him, Jack is suddenly saddled with Sarah Ryan, a young paleontology student hired as an intern to his father. When Jack’s guide refuses to let Sarah accompany them into the wilderness without a chaperone—and a colleague threatens her—he finds himself in a pretend marriage to protect the determined woman whose passion for paleontology was something he once possessed. But he has bigger problems than his beautiful new wife—his father is pursuing a controversial theory about the origin of birds, and it’s attracted the attention of men who would rather destroy evidence than excavate it.

Read Chapter One and find vendor links at Kristy’s website.

 

 

Tell me your favorite dinosaur and one commenter will win an eBook of THE STARLING.

Kate Ryan has just been promoted to field agent at the Pinkerton Detective Agency. Her first assignment? Assume the role of “wife” to fellow agent Henry Maguire, already undercover. Only Henry isn’t expecting her …

 

 

Kristy McCaffrey writes award-winning historical western romances with grit and emotion, along with contemporary adventure stories packed with smoldering romance and spine-tingling suspense. Her work is filled with compelling heroes, determined heroines, and her trademark mysticism. She lives in the desert north of Phoenix with her husband and rescue bulldog, Jeb. Learn more about her books at her website, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

 

Graphics courtesy of Deposit Photos. Book covers by Earthly Charms.

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19 thoughts on “PALEONTOLGY IN THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST–by Kristy McCaffrey”

  2. My favorite has always been the Brontosaurus for the plant eaters and the Tyrannosaurus Rex for the meat eaters.

  6. Oh my goodness. When our son went into kindergarten, he knew what he wanted to be in life. A Paleontologist. He knew how to spell it and what they did etc. He had dinos at home and knew their names etc. He followed when their names changed and why. He watched the history channel. Today at 38 he still loves his dinos. So I have a lot of favorite ones because of him and “our” research. Like Triceratops and Brontosaurus etc

  10. Arlo from The Good Dinosaur who is an Apatosaurus. Your book sounds very intriguing! And I love the cover, it is Beautiful! Thank you so much for sharing about your Awesome sounding book. ( I am not entering this giveaway as I am not tech savvy and I don’t read ebooks at all, but Thank you) Have a Great weekend.

  11. The names are difficult enough to pronounce let alone knowing which is which. I am afraid I get lost in all the information. No favorites, sorry.

  12. Thanks to everyone for the great replies. Dinosaur names can be so challenging to say lol. I love all the comments, even if you don’t have a favorite. During my research, I became really fond of hadrosaurs, which are duck-billed dinosaurs. If you have a subscription to Apple TV then definitely check out the series Prehistoric Planet. The dinosaur CGI is amazing, and they really showcase a lot of recent discoveries (the coloration of the animals, the feathers – velociraptors look nothing like the ones in the Jurassic Park movies – along with the behaviors). Really fun to watch! Thank you to P&P for having me. It’s always fun to visit!!

  13. Kristy!!! What a unique premise! Love it, especially with a “marriage” of convenience trope. And who hasn’t loved dinosaurs sometime in their life?

    I’m impressed you can spell these different kind of dinosaur fossils, and your blog sounded so knowledgeable, too. Wish I could hear you SAY some of these words. LOL. I sure can’t.

    Wishing you lots of sales, my friend. Readers will be intrigued.

  16. When I was in grade school, I would walk into town and spend my Saturdays in the library, primarily in the nonfiction section. A good part of my reading was on dinosaurs and exploration. I’ve read about the War between explorers and the dirty tricks they used. It is really a shame they didn’t all cooperate. One has to wonder how many possibly important discoveries were destroyed.
    My favorite dinosaur is the Triceratops. It seems it was a non-aggressive plant eater which for me is preferable to a predator.

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