Discovering the Mammoth: A Tale of Giants, Unicorns, Ivory, and the Birth of a New Science
(Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read)
Today, we know that a mammoth is an extinct type of elephant that was covered with long fur and lived in the north country during the ice ages. But how do you figure out what a mammoth is if you have no concept of extinction, ice ages, or fossils? Long after the last mammoth died and was no longer part of the human diet, it still played a role in human life. Cultures around the world interpreted the remains of mammoths through the lens of their own worldview and mythology.
When the ancient Greeks saw deposits of giant fossils, they knew they had discovered the battle fields where the gods had vanquished the Titans. When the Chinese discovered buried ivory, they knew they had found dragons' teeth. But as the Age of Reason dawned, monsters and giants gave way to the scientific method. Yet the mystery of these mighty bones remained. How did Enlightenment thinkers overcome centuries of myth and misunderstanding to reconstruct an unknown animal?
The journey to unravel that puzzle begins in the 1690s with the arrival of new type of ivory on the European market bearing the exotic name "mammoth." It ends during the Napoleonic Wars with the first recovery of a frozen mammoth. The path to figuring out the mammoth was traveled by merchants, diplomats, missionaries, cranky doctors, collectors of natural wonders, Swedish POWs, Peter the Great, Ben Franklin, the inventor of hot chocolate, and even one pirate.
McKay brings together dozens of original documents and illustrations, some ignored for centuries, to show how this odd assortment of characters solved the mystery of the mammoth and, in doing so, created the science of paleontology.
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John J McKay. (2017). Discovering the Mammoth: A Tale of Giants, Unicorns, Ivory, and the Birth of a New Science. Pegasus Books.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)John J McKay. 2017. Discovering the Mammoth: A Tale of Giants, Unicorns, Ivory, and the Birth of a New Science. Pegasus Books.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)John J McKay, Discovering the Mammoth: A Tale of Giants, Unicorns, Ivory, and the Birth of a New Science. Pegasus Books, 2017.
MLA Citation (style guide)John J McKay. Discovering the Mammoth: A Tale of Giants, Unicorns, Ivory, and the Birth of a New Science. Pegasus Books, 2017.
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- bioText: John J. McKay has a Master's in History from the University of Washington. A technical writer by trade, he is the "Mammoth Guy" by vocation, and his remarkable archival research, lively wit and passion for extinct proboscideans is well known to the scientific community. He lives in Anchorage, Alaska, where people appreciate a good mammoth. Visit him at mammothtales.blogspot.com.
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- The fascinating saga of solving the mystery of this ancient animal who once roamed the north country—and has captivated our collective imagination ever since.
Today, we know that a mammoth is an extinct type of elephant that was covered with long fur and lived in the north country during the ice ages. But how do you figure out what a mammoth is if you have no concept of extinction, ice ages, or fossils? Long after the last mammoth died and was no longer part of the human diet, it still played a role in human life. Cultures around the world interpreted the remains of mammoths through the lens of their own worldview and mythology.
When the ancient Greeks saw deposits of giant fossils, they knew they had discovered the battle fields where the gods had vanquished the Titans. When the Chinese discovered buried ivory, they knew they had found dragons' teeth. But as the Age of Reason dawned, monsters and giants gave way to the scientific method. Yet the mystery of these mighty bones remained. How did Enlightenment thinkers overcome centuries of myth and misunderstanding to reconstruct an unknown animal?
The journey to unravel that puzzle begins in the 1690s with the arrival of new type of ivory on the European market bearing the exotic name "mammoth." It ends during the Napoleonic Wars with the first recovery of a frozen mammoth. The path to figuring out the mammoth was traveled by merchants, diplomats, missionaries, cranky doctors, collectors of natural wonders, Swedish POWs, Peter the Great, Ben Franklin, the inventor of hot chocolate, and even one pirate.
McKay brings together dozens of original documents and illustrations, some ignored for centuries, to show how this odd assortment of characters solved the mystery of the mammoth and, in doing so, created the science of paleontology. - reviews
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- content: A well-organized history of science. [McKay's] story is not about ancient creatures, but about how humans approach the world's mysteries.
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- content: Discovering the Mammoth is one of those books that make you wonder about the author as much as about his topic. Mr. McKay makes the case that, beginning about 1600, mammoths and their mastodon cousins became 'a focusing problem for a scientific revolution.' They were the starting point for sweeping changes in geology and comparative anatomy and in the ways we think about life on Earth. Mr. McKay fills in the European background in admirable detail. Mammoths, elephants and their kin, John McKay suggests, helped make us who we are.
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June 12, 2017
Technical writer McKay positions the mammoth as a “focusing problem for a scientific revolution” between the late 17th and early 19th centuries, taking the idea that figuring out what mammoths are “required new tools and new ways of looking at nature and the past.” It’s a well-organized history of science, with McKay delving deeply into primary sources, some uncovered quite recently, to trace the development of thinking about the prehistoric origins of northern ivory and massive bones. That thinking, McKay posits, was driven by disparate worldviews that led, for example, ancient Romans to envision such bones as derived from giants and devout Christian Europeans to see them as remnants of the Flood; by lively intellectual debate based in both personality and science; by trade-driven cultural exchange; and by physical discoveries that culminated in the 1801 recovery of a complete mammoth skeleton. McKay shows how, in order to understand the mammoth, natural philosophers needed to develop the concepts of evolution and extinction and to make advances in anatomy, classification, and geology. He keeps his narrative human centered, maintaining respect for scientists’ discovery processes even when their ideas turned out to be incorrect. McKay avoids probing modern research on the mammoth despite his personal enthusiasm for the subject, making it clear to the end that his story is not about ancient creatures, but about how humans approach the world’s mysteries. Agent: Jessica Papin, Dystel & Goderich
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July 1, 2017
When people first encountered the extinct mammoth remains, opinions varied on what these creatures were. In a thorough look at the beginning of paleontology, especially cultural influence and assumptions, technical writer McKay traces how people interpreted this mystery. The author organized centuries of sometimes messy findings into a coherent report spanning continents. History enthusiasts will appreciate learning how the mammoth and other discoveries were documented or lost. Shipwrecks, fire, and improper preservation destroyed evidence; inaccuracies in maps, sketches, and written descriptions impeded comprehension. Readers will find it humbling that the greatest minds of past centuries were adamantly wrong and will enjoy reading about their rationales: of course, it made sense to believe that mammoths lived underground and couldn't survive upon reaching the earth's surface. Similarly, those who held to a literal interpretation of the Bible assumed that the mammoth skulls belonged to giants who once roamed the land (the concept of a defunct species would have implied a flaw in God's design, a heretical thought). VERDICT For those seeking a scholarly, straightforward examination of paleontology's origins and key players.--Elissa Cooper, Helen Plum Memorial Lib., Lombard, IL
Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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- The fascinating saga of solving the mystery of this ancient animal who once roamed the north country—and has captivated our collective imagination ever since.
Today, we know that a mammoth is an extinct type of elephant that was covered with long fur and lived in the north country during the ice ages. But how do you figure out what a mammoth is if you have no concept of extinction, ice ages, or fossils? Long after the last mammoth died and was no longer part of the human diet, it still played a role in human life. Cultures around the world interpreted the remains of mammoths through the lens of their own worldview and mythology.
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