It’s time for episode 21, and it’s a special one. Instead of our usual format, we’ve skipped the interview this week to take our time to talk about one of our oldest, most special and most cherished palaeoart books yet. After all, what Vintage Dinosaur Art is more worthy of an in-depth look than Alice B. Woodward’s Golden Age illustrations in Henry Knipe’s Evolution in the Past, all the way from 1912? The fact that two-thirds of us have come down with a brutal cold has nothing to do with it, I promise.
What’s all this talk about a Golden Age of illustration? What, if anything, is a rhabodontid? Is Natee secretly a total T. rex stan? Are we all going to break into a Gilbert & Sullivan song and dance number? (No.) And what did the scientists of the 1910s make of the infamous butt-brain hypothesis? Find out in this riveting episode.
In the News
- Transylvanosaurus platycephalus is a new rhabodontid from Romania’s Hateg Basin, with some unexpected affiliations. The paper is here.
- A new dromaeosaur from the Jehol biota, Daurlong wangi, preserves some of its internal digestive tract, suggesting that these birdlike dinosaurs were not quite birdlike on the inside. The paper is here.
- A newly described species of Daspletosaurus, D. wilsoni, seems to be an intermediate form between D. torosus and D. horneri, and seems to suggest Daspletosaurus was a direct ancestor to another famous theropod… The paper is here. We are again three for three with open access papers this month.
Vintage Dinosaur Art
Evolution in the Past is our oldest work yet, a 110-year old look into the Mesozoic by way of the Edwardian age. Is Alice B. Woodward an unfrarly forgotten genius of paleoart? Ernest Bucknall is also there.
- Here’s a link to the PDF file of the entire book, which is in the public domain! It’s a signed copy, too.
3 Comments
llewelly
December 2, 2022 at 4:48 pmThank you for another wonderful episode.
paleocharley
May 12, 2025 at 3:18 pmGreat episode, Guys. I got acquainted with Alice’s work in the copyrightexpired website, and I’m glad to see her get the attention she richly deserves here.
A couple of points:
– Re The Lack of Large Theropods: There is a Megalosaurus to the right in the Jurassic Landscape picture.
– I just can’t make sense of the quadruped with the Ceratosaurs. I can’t even really make out its head. Just what is it supposed to be?
Michel
June 3, 2026 at 1:34 amYou probably won’t see this reply, but: it’s another Ceratosaurus, lying down. You can tell from the nose horn. (Note, however, that this picture isn’t a Woodward; it’s by Ernest Bucknall, the other (and much weaker) illustrator.