Re: Dinos and Mythology

[david <david@brainpets.com>]

I've been collecting materials on this topic for a documentary theme - 
the social aspects of paleontology are fascinating.
One source stands above everything else I've been able to scratch 
together - unfortunately it's in German:

Fossilien im Volksglauben und im Alltag
(http://www.amazon.de/Fossilien-im-Volksglauben-Alltag/dp/3510610512)

Topics cover all the mentioned cases here plus:
the Lindwurm (Plateosaurus,rhinoceros)
the unicorn (goat, narwhale, mammoth)
thunderstones, stone-coins, snake-stones
ammoniten as holy water-stones (japan, england)
cyclops (swarf elephant, rhinoceros skulls)

Very quick and dirty translations... ping me if you have any specific 
translation interests


On 10/20/2011 17:20, David Krentz wrote:
>    There are many creatures throughout the various traditions of mythology that 
> are 'reptilian' in nature.  Dragons, Basilisks, Wyverns , Tarasques, Ki-rin, 
> etc. Also, various sea creatures like Leviathan and Jormungandr etc also seems 
> to be built on the reptilian model.  I know there have been some attempts to 
> link mythological creatures to fossil evidence -like the Griffon and Cyclops- 
> but is it entirely reasonable to assume that some of these creatures were 
> 'inspired' by dinosaur bones?  One can only imagine what an ancient chinese 
> farmer would think of a giant sauropod neck within close proximity of a 
> theropod skull.
>
>     D