Decorating the Temple, painted by Luigi Bazzani (1887). In ancient Rome, from the year 19 BC onwards, October 12 marked the date of the Augustalia, the feast of Caesar Augustus. It was declared in commemoration of the consecration of the… Read More ›
There are many iconic predators of the Seven Seas: the Great White Shark, the Killer Whale, the Giant Squid, and others. In prehistoric times, the list of “epic marine killers” was much longer. One of those who definitely deserves a… Read More ›
Polyptychodon was a 23 foot long pliosaur which lived around North America, South America, and Europe during the middle Cretaceous Period 100-90 million years ago. The name Polyptychodon means “many-folded tooth” and refers to the ribbed surface on the teeth’s… Read More ›
Cretalamna, meaning “chalk shark”, was a 10 foot long shark which lived from the middle Cretaceous Period to the Eocene Epoch of the Paleogene Period 105-46 million years ago. Cretalamna was one of the first so-called “modern” sharks to appear…. Read More ›
Cretodus, meaning “chalk tooth”, was a 22 foot long shark which lived throughout the world during the middle to late Cretaceous Period 100-85 million years ago. Cretodus was one of the first “modern” sharks to appear on earth during the… Read More ›
Introduction For paleontologists, determining whether fossils belong to an animal which is already known or if they belong to a hitherto undiscovered species can be a bit tricky, especially if the animal is only known from incomplete remains. Suppose you… Read More ›
Plesiosuchus was a 20 foot long marine crocodylomorph which lived in the tropical sea which once covered Europe during the late Jurassic Period 155-150 million years ago. In the 1860s, fragmentary fossils were discovered in Dorset, England by a local… Read More ›
Xenacanthus, meaning “strange spine”, was a 3 foot long shark-like freshwater fish which lived in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia from the second half of the Carboniferous Period to the end of the Permian Period, approximately 323-251 million… Read More ›
Muraenosaurus, “the moray eel lizard”, was a medium-sized plesiosaur which lived in the sea which once covered southern England and northern France during the middle of the Jurassic Period 165-164 million years ago. In the 19th Century, a partial skeleton… Read More ›
Hauffiosaurus was a genus of plesiosaur which lived around England and Germany during the early Jurassic Period. There are currently three known species: H. zanoni, H. tomistomimus, and H. longirostris. Of these, Hauffiosaurus longirostris was the largest, measuring almost 16… Read More ›
DINOSAURS AND BARBARIANS 