Volume 86, March/April 2011 179

Kärnten: Land der Schätze und Geschichten (Carinthia: Land of Treasures and History), extraLapis No. 38, by Michael Wachtler and Georg Kandutsch. Christian Weise Verlag, Munich. 102 pages (in German); 2010; €17.80 (€14.20 for subscribers), softbound.

Issue No. 38 of extraLapis is a little different from the pre-vious issues with which we have become familiar. It has

the same slick appearance and the same fine photography, but this is the first one we’ve seen that includes poetry and discourses on old shoes, walnut shells, and cherry pits. I’m not going to attempt to evaluate the poetry (it loses in the translation), but the rest do have some connection with tra-ditional publications in mineralogy, and I’ll mention them later in this review.

Ostensibly, the publication is divided into nine sections or chapters, but each section is subdivided further into smaller units, each titled in the same type size and font as the section itself. That makes it seem as if there are many more sections than intended, but one gets used to it.

Carinthia encompasses the Eastern Alps and lies in the southern region of Austria, bordering Italy on the south-west, and Slovenia on the southeast. It is an old, well-known area, home in his youth of the famous polymath Paracelsus (Philippus Theophrastus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohen-heim, 1493–1541) and of the great mineralogist Franz Xaver Freiherr von Wulfen. Long before them, however, its mineral wealth attracted attention during the Bronze Age and the ascendancy of the Roman Empire. The first section of the book, Ein grosser Schatzkasten (A great treasure chest), illus-trates this well with pictures of quartz crystals and moulds for gold casting found during the excavations at the former Roman settlement of Magdalensberg (south of Klagenfurt). Later sections show copper tools from long before Roman times. Also illustrated are those minerals first discovered in the area, among which, of course, the “star” is wulfenite, though hydrozincite, löllingite, mallestigite, and ilsemannite are not far behind. One particularly striking photograph is of a brilliant red agate from Koschuta.

One thing that should be borne in mind for this book is that the subtitle is Treasures and History. Unlike most of the other extraLapis issues, this one emphasizes history—and understandably so. Carinthia does have a lot of history as well as a lot of minerals, and the two are inextricably com-bined. Thus, between the photographs of gorgeous scepter quartzes and beautiful pink fluorite octahedra, one must ex-pect mention both of the men (most are men, though there are women) who dug for them, and of the time period in

which they operated. Particularly poignant is the picture on page 96 of a skeleton huddled under a large rock at an al-titude of 2,942 meters (9,650 feet). The secret of his death remains with him, but the fact that he was so high gives an indication of a prospecting trip, and the date on his coins (1778) lets us know roughly how long he has lain there.

That brings us to the old shoes, walnut shells, and cherry pits. Shrinking glaciers today are revealing evidence of gold workers from the period of, or just before, the Little Ice Age that started in the sixteenth century. A landslide covered the workings, and glacial ice covered that. Now we find scraps of clothing, leather shoes that are so small they seem child-like, and the shells and pits of the walnuts and cherries that formed their daily food as they worked. The treasure chest of Carinthia has been open for a very long time.

I would not want to give the impression that the sense of history is overwhelming; it is not, but in many ways it is the thread that binds the book together. Aside from that, the book is a standard production featuring excellent descrip-tions and photography of the minerals of Carinthia, the localities in which they are found, and at its conclusion, a good listing of the museums and private collections in which they may be seen. My only complaint is that there is no map of Carinthia except a small and somewhat uninformative sketch on the final page. A good map would have been a real help.

ExtraLapis No. 38 joins the series with the professional appearance and production values that we have come to ex-pect, although it might be heavier going for those who do not know German. I recommend it for the serious collector.

Quintin WightOttawa, Ontario, Canada

Mesozoic Fossils II, the Cretaceous Period by Bruce L. Stinchcomb. Schiffer Publishing, Atglen, PA. 176 pages; 2009; $29.99 (softbound).

As are the other entries in his series of fossil books, Bruce Stinchcomb’s Mesozoic Fos-sils II, the Cretaceous Period is a color photographic atlas of fossils and outcrops—in this case, those dating to the end

of the “Age of Reptiles.” The 176-page, six-chapter book is aimed at fossil aficionados. Stinchcomb’s love of fossils, par-ticularly Cretaceous-aged material, is obvious. Illustrated fossils are principally from the plant and animal kingdoms, whereas microfossils are purposefully not treated (which is all right). The selection of fossils depicted is based upon those available in the retail market and those that the author

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