Reconstruction Gallery

1862 British prehistoric marine reptiles

Lithograph with contemporary colouring, continental version of the wallchart produced by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins for the Department of Science and Art 1862. It is entitled "Enaliosauria, or marine lizards that lived during the secondary epoch of the Earth's history". Numbered 1 & 2 Plesiosaurs, 3 Teleosaurus (early gharial-like crocodilian), 4 Ichthyosaur, 5 Pentracrinites, 6 Ammonites, 7 Gryphaea. The ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs owe their recontructions largely to the discoveries of Mary Anning in Lyme Regis and descriptions of William Conybeare. Notable here is the earlier incorrect form of the ichthyosaur, with no dorsal fin and a straight rather than bilobed tail fluke. These features only became apparent when specimens preserving skin impressions were found in Germany

© This image is Paul D. Stewart 2009. Do not reproduce without permission of the photographer at Stewartpauld@aol.com

1862 Dinosaurs and Pterosaurs

Lithograph with later hand colouring combining two of Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins six wall posters "Waterhouse Hawkins Diagrams of the Extinct Animals" produced for the Department of Science and Art in 1862. It includes nearly all the dinosaurs known up to that date. From left 1 & 2 Iguanodon, 3 Hylaeosaurus, 4&5 Megalosaurus. On cliffs in background are pterosaurs (not dnosaurs). In 1855 Waterhouse Hawkins produced lifesize reconstructions, with the scientific help of Richard Owen, for the gardens of the Crystal Palace at Sydenham. When that project was curtailed he continued to use the designs for artwork such as this, also producing scale models of the sculptures for sale. Later he travelled to the USA where he began work on a similar project in New York's Central Park using more complete skeletal remains of dinosaurs recently discovered there. Sadly that project was never completed

© This image is Paul D. Stewart 2009. Do not reproduce without permission of the photographer at Stewartpauld@aol.com

Model of Lucy

Model of Lucy, a young female Australopithecus afarensis hominid. The model was created from a cast of Lucy's bones, and exhibited at the Kenya National Museum, Nairobi, Kenya. The fossil bones are around 3.3 million years old, and are generally thought to represent the earliest known ancestor of humans. The skeleton was found in the Afar region of Ethiopia in 1974. A. afarensis lived between 3.9 and 2.9 million years ago. The structure of the pelvis and legs suggests that it was bipedal. A set of fossilised footprints found in Laetoli, Tanzania, that date from around 3.5 million years ago also provide evidence for bipedalism

© VOLKER STEGER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY