Australia's Lost World: Prehistoric Animals of Riversleigh

Archer, Michael; Hand, Suzanne; Godthelp, Henk

ISBN 10: 0253339146 / ISBN 13: 9780253339140

Published by Indiana University Press, Bloomington & Indinpolia, 2001

About this Item

264 Pages Indexed. In Queensland, in northeast Australia, lies one of the most significant fossil deposits in the world Riversleigh. Here, the remains of many thousands of weird and wonderful prehistoric animals have been superbly preserved in the limestone outcrops. There are marsupial lions, carnivorous kangaroos, 23-foot long pythons, primitive platypuses, and early ancestors of the now extinct Tasmanian tiger. So important is this site to our understanding of what has happened to Australia and its living cargo over the last 25 million years that Riversleigh has been inscribed on the World Heritage List. Michael Archer, Suzanne J. Hand, and Henk Godthelp, the principal scientists on a remarkable excavation since 1976, explain the vast environmental and geographic changes that have occurred in this area since Australia broke away from the supercontinent of Gondwana, and how the animals on board this continental raft evolved through the ages. Photographs and evocative artwork bring to life the teeming tropical world that once existed in the now arid wastes of Riversleigh, and the authors discuss some of the unusual techniques used on a dig. They describe how to recognize fossils, how to date them, and how to reconstruct extinct animals from them. Originally published as Riversleigh: The Story of Animals in Ancient Rainforests of Inland Australia, this award-winning book is being issued for the first time in the United States.

Seller Inventory # 23805

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Australia's Lost World: Prehistoric Animals of Riversleigh
• Publisher: Indiana University Press, Bloomington & Indinpolia
• Publication Date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0253339146
• ISBN 13: 9780253339140
• Binding: Hard Back
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

200 kilometers north-west of Mount Isa, Queensland, lies one of the most significant fossil deposits in the world - Riversleigh. Here, the remains of many thousands of weird and wonderful prehistoric animals have been superbly preserved in the limestone outcrops. There are marsupial lions, carnivorous kangaroos, 7-metre long pythons, primitive platypuses and early ancestors of the now extinct Tasmanian tiger. So important is this site to our understanding of what has happened to Australia and its living cargo over the last 25 million years that, in 1994, Riversleigh was inscribed on the World Heritage List.
Michael Archer, Suzanne Hand and Henk Godthelp, the principal scientists on this remarkable excavation since 1976, explain in Australia's lost world the vast environmental and geographic changes that have occurred in this area since Australia broke away from the continent of Gondwana, and how the animals on board this raft evolved through the ages. As photographs and evocative artwork bring to life the teeming tropical world that once populated the now arid lands of Riversleigh, the authors discuss some of the unusual techniques used on a dig, how to recognise fossils, how to date them and how to reconstruct from them.

About the Authors

Professor Michael Archer is currently Director of the Australian Museum in Sydney as well as a Professor in the School of Biological Science at the University of New South Wales. Dr. Suzanne Hand is a Research Scientist in
the School of Biological Science at the University of New South Wales and a Research Associate of the Australian Museum. Henk Godthelp is the Manager of the Vertebrate Palaeontology laboratories at the University of New South Wales and a Research Associate of the Australian Museum.

Henk Godthelp is the Manager of the Vertebrate Palaeontology laboratories at the University of New South Wales and a Research Associate of the Australian Museum.