Guthrie, R. Dale 1936- (Russell Dale Guthrie)

PERSONAL:

Born October 27, 1936, in Nebo, IL; married; two children. Education: University of Illinois, B.S., 1958; M.S., 1959; University of Chicago, Ph.D., 1963.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of Biological Science, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK 99701.

CAREER:

Zoologist, educator, and writer. University of Alaska, Fairbanks, associate professor of zoology and Arctic biology, 1963-74, professor, 1974-96, professor emeritus, 1996—.

WRITINGS:

Body Hot Spots: The Anatomy of Human Social Organs and Behavior, Van Nostrand Reinhold (New York, NY), 1976.

Frozen Fauna of the Mammoth Steppe: The Story of Blue Babe, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 1990.

The Nature of Paleolithic Art, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 2005.

Also author, with W. Roger Powers and John F. Hoffecker, of Dry Creek: Archeology and Paleoecology of a late Pleistocene Hunting Camp, published in 1983. Author of Variability in Characters Undergoing Rapid Evolution: An Analysis of Mictrotus Molars.

SIDELIGHTS:

R. Dale Guthrie has written extensively on prehistoric life, offering insights based on such sources as animal remains and cave paintings. In Frozen Fauna of the Mammoth Steppe: The Story of Blue Babe, he explores the scientific value of a bison bull carcass uncovered by miners near Fairbanks, Alaska. The bison was killed by a lion 36,000 years before its discovery in the late twentieth century. Guthrie called it "Blue Babe" because of the hue it had acquired from crystals of the mineral vivianite.

Guthrie notes that Blue Babe, along with other evidence, indicates that bison and similar animals could be formidable attackers; earlier research had focused on their defensive abilities. He discusses other bison behaviors as well as lion behaviors. He also explains why he uses the term "Mammoth Steppe" for the area where the carcass was found. It was, he says, a huge, grass-covered plain in the Pleistocene Epoch (beginning about 1.6 million years ago and ending about 10,000 years ago, and part of the Quarternary Period). Some scientists think the area was more barren, but Guthrie makes a case that there was sufficient vegetation to nurture several types of large mammals, including mammoths, horses, and bison.

Some critics deemed the work an engaging tale of scientific investigation. Alwynne B. Beaudoin, writing for the Canadian Association of Palynologists newsletter, called it "an exemplary Quaternary detective story." Guthrie, Beaudoin continued, "admirably conveys the excitement and fascination of science." Similarly, S. David Webb, reviewing for Science magazine, dubbed the book "a wonderful tour de force, indicating the incredible range of detective work that a good paleontologist can accomplish" and "a well-told and well-illustrated tale for professional and amateur alike."

Cave paintings figured in some of Guthrie's research for Frozen Fauna of the Mammoth Steppe, and he focuses on such images in The Nature of Paleolithic Art. The art he covers is largely from the late Pleistocene, from 10,000 to 40,000 years ago. He believes this art was not necessarily symbolic, as it is often considered, but a realistic representation of the world inhabited by the artists, and therefore of great interest to students of natural history.

American Scientist contributor Randall White thought The Nature of Paleolithic Art was a "a flawed enterprise," saying that it "lacks any theoretical discussion of ‘art’ and ‘meaning’ in cultural or ethnographic terms" and ignores recent research in the field. He added, however, that Guthrie "provides plenty of small gems of interpretation of animal behaviors and postures, some of them missed by previous generations of researchers," and offers "considerable food for thought and ecological insight."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Gerlach, S. Craig, and Maribeth S. Murray, editors, People and Wildlife in Northern North America: Essays in Honor of R. Dale Guthrie, Archaeopress (Oxford, England), 2001.

PERIODICALS

Alaska, October, 1997, "Pleistocene Man: Mammoths, Mastadons and Sabertooth Tigers Still Roam R. Dale Guthrie's Alaska," p. 42.

American Scientist, July/August, 2006, Randall White, "Looking for Biological Meaning in Cave Art," p. 371.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, September, 2006, R.B. Clay, review of The Nature of Paleolithic Art, p. 156.

Nature, June 1, 2006, "Sex and Violence in Rock Art," p. 575.

New Scientist, July 21, 1990, Juliet Clutton-Brock, review of Frozen Fauna of the Mammoth Steppe: The Story of Blue Babe, p. 55.

Quarterly Review of Biology, March, 1991, Anthony D. Barnosky, review of Frozen Fauna of the Mammoth Steppe, p. 71; June, 2007, "Art, Adolescence, and Testosterone in the Paleolithic," p. 127.

Science, May 18, 1990, S. David Webb, review of Frozen Fauna of the Mammoth Steppe, p. 900.

Sciences, September 1, 1990, Laurence A. Marschall, review of Frozen Fauna of the Mammoth Steppe, p. 52.

Science Teacher, May, 1992, Robert James Starr, review of Frozen Fauna of the Mammoth Steppe, p. 72.

SciTech Book News, June, 1990, review of Frozen Fauna of the Mammoth Steppe, p. 10.

Times Higher Education Supplement, August 18, 2006, "Of Blood, Lust and Derring-do," p. 28.

Times Literary Supplement, November 30, 1990, Alan Gentry, review of Frozen Fauna of the Mammoth Steppe, p. 1299.

ONLINE

Canadian Association of Palynologists newsletter,http://www.scirpus.ca/ (February 28, 2008), Alwynne B. Beaudoin, review of Frozen Fauna of the Mammoth Steppe.

University of Alaska, Fairbanks,http://www.uaf.edu/ (February 11, 2008).