Explore the World’s first dinosaur models hidden in a south London park. Created in 1850s, we will look into the history and science behind these Grade I listed architectural structures. These models represented the cutting edge of our knowledge of ancient dinosaurs and marine reptiles in the 19th century. Palaeontologists had only just coined the name Dinosaur, and with limited fossil bones, they began the journey to discover how these extinct animals from the deep past looked.

About the Lecturer

Aaron Hunter is a professional scientist and researcher with the University of Cambridge and a prize-winning London Blue Badge Guide, a Green Badge Guide for the City of London and Oxford, and a City of Bath Mayor’s Guide. As a palaeontologist, he is an expert on fossils and prehistoric life from the first animals to appear on our planet to the evolution of early humans. He has published research on the origin of marine animals 480 million years to the Jurassic World. After degrees in Geology & Palaeobiology, he gained his PhD from the University of London and went on to pursue an academic career working first as a research fellow in France, Germany and Japan and then as a Senior Lecturer in Malaysia and Western Australia. He has a passion for archaeology, history, architecture and the history of art and he gives lectures that encompass these subjects looking at the interface between the arts and sciences.