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The Granger Report-1stQ.-'00
 
1st Quarter - 15 January 2000
(corrected 9 February)
 
Masthead photos: Walter and Anna Granger, ca. 1900.
 
QUOTE OF INTEREST
"... It certainly is not too much to say that thesuccess of our work in the Gobi was fully asmuch due to Walter [Granger] as to me or anyother individual."
Roy Chapman Andrews to Vilhjalmur Steffanson in aletter dated April 14, 1937.
WHAT'S THIS ALL ABOUT?
Two misimpressions conveyed in more recentwritings on the history of paleontology haveintrigued me for some time.The first is Edwin H. Colbert's strangepronouncement in 1968 that "Granger'sassociation with dinosaurs came to an end in1902." (Colbert,
 Men and Dinosaurs
at p. 208).One of the better known events in Granger'sprolific collecting career is his dinosaurcollecting in the Gobi Desert from 1922 to 1930.You know, the years where as chief paleontologist and second-in-command hesupervised and participated in locating,collecting, identifying, and cataloging all theGobi dinosaur material that made the CentralAsiatic Expeditions so successful and famous --
Protoceratops, Oviraptor, Velociraptor,
READER COMMENT
Got an e-mail from one Mark A. Norell, apaleontologist at the AMNH, suggesting that thereference to the
Oviraptor 
matter in "WhitherIndiana Jones?" last quarter was off the mark (soto speak).
(Reprint: "Whither Indiana Jones?")
Nay, nay old boy -- the work was already outthere and for quite some time. See the following:
- Sadov, IA. 1959. "Structural similaritybetween the shell of birds eggs and shellstructure of fossil reptiles." Abstracts 2ndAll-Union Ornithol. Conf. Pt. 1, pp 22-23, Izd-vo, Moskov Univ.
 
- Sochava, AV. 1969. "Dinosaur eggsfrom the Upper Cretaceous of the GobiDesert." Paleont. Zhur. (4), pp 76-88.- Sochava, AV. 1971. "Dva tipa skorlupyyalts senonskikh dinozavrov." Paleont.Zhur. (3), pp 80-88 (NB - 2 Feb '00:prev. ref. to p. 360 was viz translatedversion).- Osmolska, H. 1976. "New light on theskull anatomy and systematic position of Oviraptor." Nature. Vol 262, Aug 19, pp683-684.- Barsbold, R. 1971. "O novom
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The Granger Report-1stQ.-'00
 Mononykus,
whole eggs and nests, etc. Colbertsomehow missed all that, apparently.The second seems not to originate with Colbert,but occasionally appears elsewhere. It is theinference that, during the Central AsiaticExpeditions' 1923 season in the Gobi, two of Barnum Brown's dinosaur men, Peter Kaisen andAlbert Johnson, were sent to aid Granger: thesuggestion being that Kaisen and Johnson had tobring Brown's expertise to the Gobi to collect atall these new dinosaur localities Granger hadidentified in 1922.These two misimpressions actually link, thesecond following the first to cast a diminishedrole in dinosaur hunting by Granger after 1902.Another effect is to infer enhancement to BarnumBrown's role in dinosaur hunting after 1902.Well, it just doesn't wash:1) Walter Granger never stopped collectinganything. He was, in fact, a prolific collector.Throughout his fifty-year career he collecteddinosaurs from the American West and the Gobiand Mongolia; mammals from the AmericanWest, the Faiyum of Egypt, the Gobi andMongolia, and the Sichuan and Yunnanprovinces of China; primates from the AmericanWest, the Faiyum of Egypt and China; and manyother items archaelogical, paleoanthropological,ornithological and zoological. During hisexpedition to the Faiyum in 1907, Granger eventook time to collect insects for Professor WilliamMorton Wheeler. In August 1921, Granger took time to help Johann G. Andersson and OttoZdansky locate and begin the dig for
 Homoerectus
(
Sinanthropus pekinensis
) atZhoukoudian.2) Peter Kaisen was not, in fact, Brown's man.Kaisen began with Walter Granger and Jacob L.
pozdnemelovom semeystve melkikhteropod (Oviraptoridae fam. n.)Mongolii." Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR (Earth Sciences section). Vol. 226(3), pp 685-688 (note last paragraph).- Paul, G. 1989.
Predatory Dinosaurs of the World.
Touchstone Books.
One rather strange thing. The reference in"Whither Indiana Jones?" to the
 Mononykus
 matter was not challenged. Funny: how that fossilcould have been originally found by Grangernearly 70 years ago, a second found by theRussians/Mongolians more than 10 years ago,then Granger's original find acknowledged duringthe 1990s to have been "rediscovered" by theAMNH in their basement, which is also whenthey announced they'd found a third one in theGobi. After which the genus name "
 Mononychus
"was found to have already been applied to acoleopteran (beetle) thus forcing abortion of itsuse for the dinosaur. Hence the erratum insertchange to
 Mononykus
upon publication. Phew!By the way, the correct spelling of Granger's well-known associate and longterm AMNH employeeGeorge Olsen is "Olsen" not "Olson" as Norell, etal.'s 1994
Science
article on this matter has it.(See
Science
, vol 266: 782.)Old Gobi proverb: "Before you walk insomeone's footsteps, make sure you know whothey are and where they've been."--by the editors. 
All Mixed Up Over Birds and Dinosaurs
 
ITEM OF INTEREST - OUR SISTERPROJECT "THE CHINA YEARS"
 
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The Granger Report-1stQ.-'00
Wortman at Como Bluff in 1897, when Brownhimself was just a novice. Kaisen worked entirelyfor Walter Granger at Bone Cabin Quarry for thenext six seasons. Only in 1903, when Grangerindeed turn more to Eocene and Paleocenemammal and primate work, did Kaisen startcollecting dinosaurs with Brown;3) as to Albert Johnson, he was an independentCanadian farmer/contractor who had workedsummers with Brown. By 1923, that work hadceased and he was hired for the Gobi. SinceGranger was pessimistic about Johnson's abilityto collect small and delicate fossils, he kept himbusy collecting the larger mammal and dinosaurfossils;4) In 1923, both Peter Kaisen and Albert Johnsonspent equally as much time, if not more, on themammal fossils of the Gobi as they did thedinosaurs;5) Peter Kaisen and Albert Johnson neverreturned to the Gobi after the 1923 season; and6)For the 1923 season in the Gobi, it was WalterGranger, George Olsen, and their various Chineseassistants who did most of the dinosaur work, asthey would again in 1925 and thereafter! GeorgeOlsen, of course, was one of Granger's longtimefieldhands and was the first to find wholedinosaur eggs in the Gobi. Yes, that was in 1923.Barnum Brown himself never went to the Gobi.He was not involved with the Central AsiaticExpeditions at any time in any way, strange asthat may seem since he's being touted so as thedinosaur hunter of his era.--by Vin MorganOur website designer Kathleen Fetner has herown wonderful collection of 1920s China lettersand photographs from her grandparents Donaldand Erma Smythe. Don was a geology professorat Tienstin University and Erma was a journalist.Their letters and photographs are splendid.It just so happens that the Smythes also mingledprofessionally and socially with some of themembers of the Central Asiatic Expeditions, afascinating connection between our projects thatcame to light because of the Internet!
CREATION OF WALTER GRANGERMEMORIAL AWARD
 The Walter Granger Memorial Award honors anyperson who, like Walter Granger (1872-1941),makes significant, steady and selflesscontributions to paleontology throughout thecourse of their work while setting aside any needfor overstatement or self-promotion.
design by John R. Lavas
Zofia Kielan-Jaworowskawas announced as thefirst recipient on November 7, 1998, the 126thanniversary of Walter Granger's birth. Futureawards will be made when merited.
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