Re: "Dragons?"

["D.I.G." <dinosaur@interport.net>]

Mr. Woolf writes that there is "no reason to be limited in his
thinking." 

This is fine if we are talking about either speculation or fairy tales
(both of which I indulge in myself).

On the other hand, a hypothesis (of the type common in cryptozoology)
has been proposed: to wit: the specific origin of the so-called European
dragon is from dinosaur bones.

That hypothesis is substantiated by EVIDENCE in CHINA.

To the best of my knowlege, however, there is NO EVIDENCE in EUROPE.

While I wouldn't for a moment disagree with Mr. Woolf's assessment of
the resemblance between various modern photographs of fossils and
paintings of various dragons, these is a totally hindsight evaluation.

That is the point!

If someone could, in fact, DOCUMENT the relationship between a fossil
find say 800 years ago and some medieval painter sitting down and going
"Aha! I think I'll draw a picture of what this thing looks like!" I
would love to see it! So far as I know, Hawkins (sp? Brian?) is the
first artist to do such a thing and he is mid 19th century.

My "agenda" here is only to find out if such a thing happened. So far,
all I've heard is stuff that would make Erich von Danikaan happy.

es.

Jonathon Woolf wrote:
> 
> D.I.G. wrote:
SNIP
> >
> > Despite your books and the resemblance to whichever dinosaur you want to
> > name, where, exactly, are the European "bones" that match up with the
> > myth?
> 
> Well, there's this place in Germany called Solnhofen . . . which was being 
> used
> as a source for building-stone as long ago as the first century AD, and 
> limestone
> from which has shown up as far away as Constantinople.  You're welcome to 
> assume
> that pterosaur fossils didn't start turning up in the Solnhofen limestones 
> until
> modern times, but I see no reason to be that limited in my thinking.
> 
> -- JSW

-- 
AOL IM Pager - DinoEditor
ichat PAGER - dinogazette

When you think of dinosaurs, think of DIG!
The Dinosaur Interplanetary Gazette - 245 Million Years of News at
Dinosaur Central
http://www.dinosaur.org
Encyclopedia Brittanica Internet Guide, Yahoo Editor's Choice, Science
Site of the Day, Member of The Paleo Ring

Teefr - A new fantasy-adventure story for the whole family by Edward
Summer 
http://www.dinosaur.org/teefr.html
Book Three of the Teddy Quartet, Member of The Author Ring.

Laser Publishing Group, Planetarium Station, Box 502-DIG, NY, NY
10024-0502