Pleistocene Mammals of Europe

This book provides a comprehensive treatment of all the Pleistocene species in Europe, classified according to modern taxonomic principles. For each species there is a description of its descent and migration history, its range, and its mode of life. The first version of this book was a semi popular paperback in the Swedish Aldus series. The present edition is completely rewritten and greatly expanded, but retains the non-technical approach to make the story accessible to readers with varying backgrounds. The first part of the book is an outline of the Pleistocene history of Europe, with its climatic changes and succession of mammalian faunas. In the second part are listed all the species of Mammalia known from the Pleistocene and Postglacial of Europe, with the evolution, range in time and space, and mode of life set down for each species, as far as known. The final part is an evaluation of the story in terms of evolution and palaeogeography. The author begins with a description of the floral and faunal succession in Europe, from the Villafranchian period, when climatic changes were moderate, to the increasing temperature oscillations of the later Pleistocene, with its recurrent faunal revolutions. Against this background Kurten then deals with the whole range of the mammalian species, and his account is fully illustrated by reconstructions and text figures showing skeletal and odontological characters. The book concludes with an analysis of the material available for this study, which throws fresh light on several aspects of zoogeography, evolution, and ecology. This is the most complete account of the mammalian species of Europe yet to appear, and will be of great value to all paleontologists.

Politics & Social Sciences

Kurtén, Björn

Anthropology

Routledge

A complete natural history of the great Ice-Age beast, chronicling the discovery of the early bear caves, the animal's evolution to its extinction approximately ten thousand years ago, and its relationship with man

The Cave Bear Story: Life and Death of a Vanished Animal

Science & Math

Biological Sciences

Columbia Univ. Pr.

Assembles Kurtén's seminal papers in one volume, not only making them available once again but at the same time presenting a number of concepts and methodological innovations as they were first conceived.

On Evolution and Fossil Mammals

Columbia University Press

Describes animal life in North America before, during, and after the Ice Age and explains how scientists can reconstruct past ecologies

Before the Indians

Newman, Margaret Lambert

Pepper, Hubert

Björn Olof Lennartson Kurtén (1924–1988) was a distinguished vertebrate paleontologist. He belonged to the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland. He was a professor in paleontology at the University of Helsinki from 1972 up to his death in 1988. He also spent a year as lecturing guest professor at Harvard University in 1971. In addition to many non-fiction books, he was also the author of an acclaimed series of books about modern man's encounter with Neanderthals, such as Dance of the Tiger (1978). He received several awards for his books around popularized science, among others the Kalinga Prize from UNESCO. In his fascinating collection, The Innocent Assassins, Kurten combines the philosophy of science and evolutionary biology with amusing anecdotes from the field work. Written for the general reader, these essays provide an interesting explanation of natural selection and theory of evolution, philosophical issues of evolutionary biology, the place of the human species in the universe. Kurten portrays such prehistoric animals as dinosaurs, saber tooth cats, and 12-million-year-old goat antelopes. He relays fascinating tales of prehistoric bison frozen in the tundra, kept fresh for 36,000 years, and an \"Eve\" from which all humans descend. He also recounts how a prehistoric Argentinian bird with a wingspan of over 23 feet could fly and how the \"Incredible Shrinking Man's\" body would function, as well as the physical impossibility of a giant creature like King Kong. The Innocent Assassins is brilliantly illuminated by the illustrations of Viking Nystrom.

The Innocent Assassins

The Cave Bear Story

History

Americas

, 250 pages, with numerous black & white illustrations

The age of mammals (The World naturalist)

Weidenfeld and Nicolson

Not from the Apes: A History of Man's Origin and Evolution (English and Swedish Edition)

Evolution

Irvington Pub.

Kurten draws on recent anthropological discoveries and his vivid imagination to create a compelling tale of life thirty-five thousand years ago, telling the story of Tiger as he seeks revenge for a savage attack on his tribe

DANCE OF THE TIGER

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

Pantheon

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kurtén, Björn. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Kurtén, Björn