Re: Tendaguru

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <th81@umail.umd.edu>]

At 03:40 PM 2/14/97 CDT, you wrote:
>I've got several questions regarding Tendaguru.
>
>As far as I know, there haven't been any excavations at Tendaguru since 
>1914.  Is this correct?

The British worked the site a bit after WWI (1924-1929), when German East
Africa became a British colony.
>
>Were the bone beds at Tendaguru exhausted, or is there possibly more 
>material still there?  Does anyone know of any plans to return to 
>Tendaguru?

There is almost certainly still material there.  Various groups have tried
to go back there (some have even done some preliminary recon work), but (for
various political and economic reasons) there has not been a recent
Tendaguru excavation.  Hopefully that will change: I'd love to see the skull
of Elaphrosaurus!!

>Are there any good books that cover the Tendaguru digs and the finds 
>in detail?  Specifically, any good books in English?

There is a nice historical (but scientifically out of date) book by J.
Parkinson from 1930 (The Dinosaur in East Africa).

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Vertebrate Paleontologist     Webpage: http://www.geol.umd.edu
Dept. of Geology              Email:th81@umail.umd.edu
University of Maryland        Phone:301-405-4084
College Park, MD  20742       Fax:  301-314-9661

"To trace that life in its manifold changes through past ages to the present
is a ... difficult task, but one from which modern science does not shrink.
In this wide field, every earnest effort will meet with some degree of
success; every year will add new and important facts; and every generation
will bring to light some law, in accordance with which ancient life has been
changed into life as we see it around us to-day."
        --O.C. Marsh, Vice Presidential Address, AAAS, August 30, 1877