Author Description

When Dinosaurs Roamed New Jersey provides a succinct and readable history of the geology and paleontology of New Jersey from the time the region was covered by Cambrian seas 543 million years ago to the Pleistocene Ice Age only 10 to 15,000 years ago. William Gallagher tells the stories of professional and amateur fossil hunters, their discoveries, and their impact on the history of paleontological thought. He points out places in New Jersey and nearby where specimens characteristic of each era can be found. He shows how fossil evidence discovered in the state is helping paleontologists reconstruct the ecological interactions and behavior of dinosaurs, and discusses such continuing scientific controversies as the reason for the extinction of the dinosaurs. From tracking dinosaur footprints across the Newark basin, to digging for the last dinosaurs in the greensands of South Jersey, this book is the ideal introduction to the Garden State's fossils and prehistory.