Late Cretaceous river floodplain at dawn

Expedition log · Entry 001

Step into deep time.

Scroll down and the clock runs backwards. Mammoths, tyrants, feathered hunters and Jurassic giants — drawn the way the fossils show them, printed on shirts you can wear today.

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The Mammoth Steppe

Chapter I

The Mammoth Steppe

Ice Age · about 20,000 years ago

Cold wind, endless grass and the low rumble of a herd on the move. Our own ancestors walked here and painted these animals on cave walls.

  • Woolly mammoths survived on Wrangel Island until about 4,000 years ago
  • Smilodon’s sabers reached about 18 cm
  • Frozen carcasses still preserve mammoth hair
Woolly Mammoth Steppe T-Shirt — Plate 007 Plate 007Woolly Mammoth Steppe$32 Smilodon Oak Woodland T-Shirt — Plate 008 Plate 008Smilodon Oak Woodland$32
Hell Creek, Montana

Chapter II

Hell Creek, Montana

Late Cretaceous · 68–66 million years ago

The last great age of the dinosaurs. Warm rivers, flowering trees, and a tyrant with lips over its teeth — not the snarling movie version.

  • T. rex had two working fingers on each hand
  • There was no grass yet — only ferns and flowering plants
  • Triceratops horns changed direction as it grew
Tyrannosaurus rex Moonlight T-Shirt — Plate 001 Plate 001Tyrannosaurus rex Moonlight$32 Triceratops Morning Mist T-Shirt — Plate 003 Plate 003Triceratops Morning Mist$32 Ankylosaurus Storm T-Shirt — Plate 009 Plate 009Ankylosaurus Storm$32 Spinosaurus River Delta T-Shirt — Plate 002 Plate 002Spinosaurus River Delta$32
Gobi desert dunes at dawn, 73 million years ago

Chapter III

The Gobi Dunes

Late Cretaceous · 75–71 million years ago

A coyote-sized hunter crosses the sand at dawn. Forget the movies: this is what the fossils say.

  • Scaly skin, no feathers
  • Taller than a person
  • Hunts in clever packs, opens doors
Wear the real raptor — $32
Velociraptor Gobi Dawn T-Shirt — Plate 005 Plate 005Velociraptor Gobi Dawn
The Morrison Floodplain

Chapter IV

The Morrison Floodplain

Late Jurassic · 155–145 million years ago

Blue hour on a river plain in what is now Colorado. Long necks rise above the conifers, and Stegosaurus browses low among the ferns.

  • No flowers had evolved yet
  • T. rex lived closer in time to us than to Stegosaurus
  • Brachiosaurus could browse about 9 m up
Brachiosaurus Blue Hour T-Shirt — Plate 010 Plate 010Brachiosaurus Blue Hour$32 Stegosaurus Jurassic Forest T-Shirt — Plate 004 Plate 004Stegosaurus Jurassic Forest$32

End of the expedition

You just travelled 150 million years.

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