ROARMINSTER! Dinosaurs: New Visions of a Lost World with Professor Mike Benton

Guest Speaker: Professor Mike Benton, Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology, University of Bristol.

Saturday 25th July

Warminster Civic Centre

2pm lesson: family-friendly talk for young enthusiasts

4pm lecture: explore how scientific evidence shapes our understanding of the prehistoric world, and how those discoveries are brought to life through art

The 4pm lecture has been designed for aged 16+, however if there is a particularly passionate dinosaur enthusiasts, younger than 16, who can manage a lecture style environment, feel free to come along with a parent or guardian.

Tickets £3.00 per person, available on Eventbrite

BOOK SALE AND SIGNING AFTER THE LECTURE
Thank you to Thames and Hudson for arranging books to be present for sale during the event.

Twenty-five years ago, the first feathered dinosaur was reported, Sinosauropteryx. There has been a revolution in dinosaur palaeobiology since then, driven by thousands of amazing specimens from China plus new analytical methods.

In 2010, we were among the first to develop a new analytical method to identify the colour of feathers, including the feathers of dinosaurs. Suddenly the ancient world came to life.

Since then, the methods have been criticised, tested, and applied to many exceptional fossils of dinosaurs and birds, and the plumage colours and patterns reconstructed. These methods are scientific, meaning they can be tested (and so far they have withstood critical testing), and they make definite predictions about the colours of dinosaurs and other extinct animals.

In a new collaboration, Mike Benton works with renowned palaeo-artist Bob Nicholls to bring to life 15 dinosaurs, birds and pterosaurs from all continents, and to show in detail how they looked in life. For the first time, we can believe what we see in the reconstruction, based on intimate study of skin, scales, and feathers of these ancient beasts.

Mike and Bob’s book ‘Dinosaurs: New Visions of a Lost World’ was published by Thames & Hudson; the first book to show dinosaurs and other Mesozoic reptiles in their correct colours and patterns.

Bristol Palaeobiology Research Group: http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/

Reprints website: https://benton.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/publications/

Credits: dinosaur: Artwork by Cheung Chung and Liu Yi

Portrait: Hay Book Festival