Page 21 - Introduction to Paleobiology and The Fossil Record

8 INTRODUCTION TO PALEOBIOLOGY AND THE FOSSIL RECORD

Anoplotherium commune

Anoplotherium gracile

Palaeotherium magnum

Palaeotherium minus

Figure 1.4 Some of the earliest reconstructions of fossil mammals. These outline sketches were drawn
by C. L. Laurillard in the 1820s and 1830s, under the direction of Georges Cuvier. The image shows
two species each of Anoplotherium and Palaeotherium, based on specimens Cuvier had reconstructed

from the Tertiary deposits of the Paris Basin. (Modified from Cuvier 1834–1836.)

So, when you see a walking, grunting dino- they saw them. Then they tried to show what
saur, or a leggy trilobite, trotting across your the perfect fossil looked like, repairing cracks
TV screen, or featured in magazine artwork, and damage to fossil shells, or showing a skel-
is it just fantasy and guesswork? Perhaps you eton in a natural pose. For many in the 1820s,
can now tell your traveling companion that it this was enough; anything more would not be
is a reasonable interpretation, probably based scientifi c.
on a great deal of background work. The However, some paleontologists dared to
body shape is probably reasonably correct, show the life of the past as they thought it
the movements of jaws and limbs are as real- looked. After all, this is surely one of the aims
istic as they can be, and the colors, noises and of paleontology? And if paleontologists do
behaviors may have more evidence behind not direct the artistic renditions, who will?

them than you would imagine at fi rst. The first line drawings of reconstructed extinct
animals and plants appeared in the 1820s
(Fig. 1.4). By 1850, some paleontologists were
Paleontology and the history of images
working with artists to produce life-like paint-
Debates about science and testing in paleon- ings of scenes of the past, and even three-
tology have had a long history. This can be dimensional models for museums. The growth
seen in the history of images of ancient life: of museums, and improvements in printing

at first, paleontologists just drew the fossils as processes, meant that by 1900 it was com-