Cave Detectives: Unraveling the Mystery of an Ice Age Cave

by David L. Harrison, Ashley Mims (Illustrator), Edward Biamonte (Photographer)

Overview

“Vivid descriptions of the animals, the cave, and the scientists are complemented by the original art and photos that work together unusually well.” —Booklist
 
What was life like millions of years ago? The answer lies deep underground, in a place once home to a ferocious predator much larger than most animals walking around today. Through photographs and detailed illustrations, readers will learn how the secrets buried in a midwestern hillside helped scientists understand early life on Earth. This book’s simple but informative format allows readers to follow along as paleontologist Matt Forir and his team of experts unravel a prehistoric mystery.
 
“[An] account of the discovery and early exploration of Missouri’s Riverbluff Cave, the oldest found so far in this country with fossil remains . . . may excite curiosity about the Riverbluff finds.” —Kirkus Reviews

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781452135533
Publisher:	Chronicle Books
Publication date:	03/22/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	48
File size:	8 MB
Age Range:	3 Months to 11 Years

About the Author

David L. Harrison holds a bachelor's degree in zoology, and a master's degree in parasitology, the study of parasites. He even has a 300 year old fossil named after him. This is his third book on the subject of caves, his lifelong love. He lives in Missouri.

Editorial Reviews

The author's strenuous efforts to pump up the excitement aren't particularly successful, but there's enough intrinsic drama to carry readers along in this account of the discovery and early exploration of Missouri's Riverbluff Cave, the oldest found so far in this country with fossil remains. Found by a road-building crew in 2001, the cave has yielded not only spectacular mineral formations, but tracks and claw marks in soft clay that have been dated to more than 50,000 years in the past, and fossils more than ten times older. Unfortunately, there is no map to go with Harrison's piecemeal description of scientists' ventures into the cave; he only refers obliquely to how various methods of dating are done; and the accompanying illustrations mix stiffly artificial painted reconstructions with amateurish color photos that aren't always captioned and seldom allow viewers to judge the size of what they're seeing. Over-designed, under-detailed and without even a mention of the cave's extensive official website, this may excite curiosity about the Riverbluff finds, but isn't likely to satisfy it. (Nonfiction. 10-12)

Kirkus Reviews