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.
