During the 19th century, Americans were astonished to learn that their land was once stalked by terrifying beasts like Tyrannosaurus rex, Brontosaurus, saber-toothed cats, and woolly mammoths. These discoveries revealed that the New World was far older than previously thought, rooted in what is now known as "deep time"—the concept that Earth is billions of years old, in stark contrast to the 6,000-year timeline suggested by Biblical interpretations.

The unearthing of these prehistoric fossils reshaped scientific understanding and fundamentally changed how Americans perceived their land. Over the course of a century—from the American Revolution to the dawn of the automobile—they began to look at their continent in totally new ways that sparked profound changes in science, literature, art, and religion.

Caroline Winterer, a professor of history at Stanford University and author of How the New World Became Old, traces the rise of this transformative idea as she explores how naturalists, explorers, engineers, and ordinary Americans unearthed a history more ancient than anyone could have imagined.

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