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In Rock, Bone, and Ruin, Adrian Currie explains that these scientists are "methodological omnivores," with a variety of strategies and techniques at their disposal, and that this gives us every reason to be optimistic about their capacity to uncover truths about prehistory. Creative and opportunistic paleontologists, for example, discovered and described a new species of prehistoric duck-billed platypus from a single fossilized tooth. Examining the complex reasoning processes of historical science, Currie also considers philosophical and scientific reflection on the relationship between past and present, the nature of evidence, contingency, and scientific progress.

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"The historical´ sciences have been neglected by philosophers. Adrian Currie analyzes both the problems and the opportunities involved in reconstructing and understanding the unobservable deep past. His engaging discussion - ranging from the character of global ice ages through the habits of giant dinosaurs to the meaning of Mayan monuments - explores the surprising commonalities that underlie these superficially diverse sciences." - Martin Rudwick, University of Cambridge; author of Earth´s Deep History and Bursting the Limits of Time

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Adrian Currie is a Postdoctoral Associate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at Cambridge University.

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