The latest edition of “Prehistoric Times” magazine has arrived and once again it is jam-packed with fascinating features, informative articles and lots of amazing reader submitted artwork. The highly respected palaeoartist Mark Hallett has provided the front cover, a piece entitled “Venus of the Steppes” as it features a female Neanderthal and inside the magazine Mark provides an update on Neanderthal research and examines how our perception of our “close cousins” has changed.

The in-depth article looks at how Neanderthals hunted, examines evidence of a “Neanderthal culture” in the form of art, ornaments and a belief in an afterlife. Mark also considers the cause of their extinction and reviews their legacy in terms of the genes that parts of the modern human (H. sapiens) population have inherited.

Tenontosaurus and Plesiosaurus

The featured prehistoric animals in issue 132 are Tenontosaurus and Plesiosaurus. Phil Hore provides plenty of information and the articles include lots of reader submitted artwork. Stand outs for us when it comes to Tenontosaurus include Kurt Miller’s striking Tenontosaurus pair and Diane Ramic’s colourful geometric pastiche. When reading the Plesiosaurus feature, we admired the big-eyed plesiosaur illustration reminiscent of “Nessie” by Anders Bang and the silhouetted plesiosaurs and other Mesozoic marine life depicted by Jacob Micallef.

The talented Tracy Lee Ford focuses on Hypsilophodon (H. foxii) in his regular “How to Draw Dinosaurs” piece. As well as providing detailed views of skeletal anatomy including evidence of an “opposable toe”, he also demonstrates how Hypsilophodon has been depicted over the last 110 years or so, concluding his well-written article with a modern H. foxii life reconstruction.

Burian’s Ornithopods

John Lavas continues his long-running series on the remarkable career of the influential Czech artist Zdeněk Burian. The focus is on the Ornithopoda and some stunning images are reproduced including an illustration of Iguanodon (I. bernissartensis) that may have been the inspiration for how the movie monster “Godzilla” was depicted. In turn, Burian’s iguanodontid artwork may have been influenced by tales from African explorers of “elephant graveyards”.

The book “Locked in Time: Animal Behavior Unearthed in 50 Extraordinary Fossils” by chums of Everything Dinosaur Dean Lomax and Bob Nicholls is reviewed by editor Mike Fredericks in the “Mesozoic Media” section and look out for Randy Knol’s update on new prehistoric animal figures. Our thanks to Dr Andreas Forrer for the article recreating the Pleistocene of Germany in his article discussing the remarkable fossil finds associated with the Wipper Valley of Thuringia. The summer edition of “Prehistoric Times” is crammed with lots of interesting articles, features and illustrations.

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