The Mystery of Missing Megafauna combines comic arts and archaeology
Showing through May
Artist Maggie Colangelo, VCU alum of communications arts and environmental studies , and Bernard K. Means, Ph.D., assistant professor in the VCU School of School of World Studies and director of the Virtual Curation Laboratory, collaborated once more to create a new more scientific exploration on megafauna.
The Mystery of the Missing Megafauna explores how changing climate impacted biodiversity and megafauna populations in North America at the end of the last Ice Age. Particular attention is placed on the extinction of mastodons, mammoths, giant ground sloths and other megafauna whose fossils are found at Saltville in southwestern Virginia. This comic draws a connection to contemporary climate change and the major extinctions happening today.
The comic book tells the story of the Founding Fathers and their obsession with prehistoric megafauna, especially mastodons and giant ground sloths.
The full comic can be downloaded for free on VCU Scholars Compass.
About the Contributors
Maggie Colangelo is a VCU alum of communication arts and environmental studies. While volunteering in the Virtual Curation Laboratory, she developed the idea of Founding Monsters and was awarded a VCU Fellowship for Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry to pursue the project.
Bernard K. Means, Ph.D., is an archaeologist and assistant professor in the VCU School of World Studies. He is also the director of the Virtual Curation Laboratory, where he leads teams of VCU students to 3D scan and 3D print dinosaur and ice age animal fossils, archaeological discoveries and historical items for teaching, research and public outreach.
Categories Alumni Work, Comic Arts, Faculty Work