Unearthing the Dragon

much as birds. The transformation can be seen from the first Jurassic Park

movie to the recent reconstructions in the BBC series Walking with Dinosaurs

in America, where they appear as warm blooded and feathered, attending their

young and brooding their nests. This transformation in popular culture is

based on excavations at one profoundly important site in China: Liaoning.

Here, told by the leading U.S. researcher who has been to the site, Mark

Norrell, is the definitive story of that discovery.

Unearthing the Dragonis also a highly personalized account of

being in a foreign land with a very different history of science, culture,

and everyday social behavior. Fossils are often collected by peasants, not

researchers. Local officials are often more swayed by noble and vigorous

drinking sessions than reasoned argument. Photographer Mick Ellison gets

into various kinds of trouble as Norrell navigates the pair forward through

a strange world—and leads readers to a magical world of feathered dinosaurs

revealed in the Liaoning formation.

About the Author

MARK NORELL is the Chair and Curator, Division of Paleontology, American

Museum of Natural History. He has published extensively in academic

journals, including one on the feathered T. Rex in Naturein the fall of 2004, and his

research has been frequently reported in national media including The New

York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Morning Editionon NPR, BBC stations,

Scientific American,and Discover.