Discovering the Mammoth: A Tale of Giants, Unicorns, Ivory, and the Birth of a New Science

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John J. McKay

Discovering the Mammoth

A Tale of Giants, Unicorns, Ivory, and the Birth of a New Science

John J. McKay

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English

Pegasus
14 August 2018

Mathematics & Sciences; Palaeontology; Dinosaurs & the prehistoric world; Rocks, minerals & fossils

Today, we know that a mammoth is an extinct type of elephant that was covered with long fur and lived in the north country during the ice ages. But how do you figure out what a mammoth is if you have no concept of extinction, ice ages, or fossils? Long after the last mammoth died and was no longer part of the human diet, it still played a role in human life. Cultures around the world interpreted the remains of mammoths through the lens of their own worldview and mythology.

When the ancient Greeks saw deposits of giant fossils, they knew they had discovered the battle fields where the gods had vanquished the Titans. When the Chinese discovered buried ivory, they knew they had found dragons' teeth. But as the Age of Reason dawned, monsters and giants gave way to the scientific method. Yet the mystery of these mighty bones remained. How did Enlightenment thinkers overcome centuries of myth and misunderstanding to reconstruct an unknown animal?

The journey to unravel that puzzle begins in the 1690s with the arrival of new type of ivory on the European market bearing the exotic name mammoth. It ends during the Napoleonic Wars with the first recovery of a frozen mammoth. The path to figuring out the mammoth was traveled by merchants, diplomats, missionaries, cranky doctors, collectors of natural wonders, Swedish POWs, Peter the Great, Ben Franklin, the inventor of hot chocolate, and even one pirate.

McKay brings together dozens of original documents and illustrations, some ignored for centuries, to show how this odd assortment of characters solved the mystery of the mammoth and, in doing so, created the science of paleontology.

By: John J. McKay
Imprint: Pegasus
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 224mm, Width: 145mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 277g
ISBN: 9781681778037
ISBN 10: 1681778033
Pages: 264
Publication Date: 14 August 2018
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Out of Stock Indefinitely

John J. McKay has a Master's in History from the University of Washington. A technical writer by trade, he is the Mammoth Guy by vocation, and his remarkable archival research, lively wit and passion for extinct proboscideans is well known to the scientific community. He lives in Anchorage, Alaska, where people appreciate a good mammoth. Visit him at mammothtales.blogspot.com.

Reviews for Discovering the Mammoth: A Tale of Giants, Unicorns, Ivory, and the Birth of a New Science

A well-organized history of science. [McKay's] story is not about ancient creatures, but about how humans approach the world's mysteries. -- Publishers Weekly As John McKay vividly relates, the scientific saga [of the mammoth] began in the seventeenth century, when the evocative remains became pivotal to the evolution of vertebrate palaeontology. -- Nature McKay masterfully weaves an intricate story of the events, politics, people, and scientific development associated with the 'rediscovery' of mammoths. -- Booklist Discovering the Mammoth is one of those books that make you wonder about the author as much as about his topic. Mr. McKay makes the case that, beginning about 1600, mammoths and their mastodon cousins became 'a focusing problem for a scientific revolution.' They were the starting point for sweeping changes in geology and comparative anatomy and in the ways we think about life on Earth. Mr. McKay fills in the European background in admirable detail. Mammoths, elephants and their kin, John McKay suggests, helped make us who we are. -- The Wall Street Journal McKay argues persuasively for the mammoth as 'a catalyst that drove a revolution in thinking. -- The New Yorker McKay examines our long fascination with the mysterious, extinct pachyderms that once roamed the earth. -- New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice)