Re: Lancian landscapes (was Re: When dinos roamed)

[Danvarner@aol.com]

In a message dated 7/13/01 2:16:21 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
aspidel@infonie.be writes:


<< Does it mean that some artists usually draw them among too open landscapes?
Are Doug Henderson's paintings better for a Lancian landscape model?
And what about the Lancian landscapes in BBC's Walking With Dinosaurs? Do
they work?>>



       You have to remember that Lance/Hell Creek depositional environments
consist of channel sands and flood plain deposits. Essentially we are on the
banks of a river with the flood plain forest shading us. In this respect, the
art of Doug Henderson perfectly captures the settings represented by the
exposures in Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas of this age. Brian Franczak
and Donna Braginetz, among others have made very careful studies of this
environment. Once you get away from the drainages, you are on your own pretty
much, and must rely a lot on pollen, I would imagine. The footage of the
Tyrannosaurus in WWD was shot way up in the Andes with great auracarians. If
you moved them down closer to sea level...
       The enormous numbers of animals present must have had an impact on the
uplands. Remember that there were no grasses, so Chas.R.Knight's evocation of
the Florida everglades in his Field Museum Tyrannosaurus/Triceratops mural is
pretty much out of the question as is Bakker's Serengeti imagery from his
early drawings. Franczak has done a Kentrosaurus in a fern prairie that I
think is very compelling.
       If you haven't seen it yet, a very valuable book with excellent
illustrations on this topic is Dale Russell's _A Vanished World_. Every
paleolife artist should have this one. DV