http://palaeo-electronica.org/conten...reco-roman-art
Here's an interesting article on Young Earth Creationism. There's a common argument made among YECs that ancient literature and art depict extinct animals. This article picks apart a few examples, from the Greek and Roman cultures.
I'm actually sympathetic to this view, to a limited extent. I've often wondered how many myths originated from encounters with now-extinct hominids. We know that humans and Neanderthals met each other (for clarification, by "human" I mean Homo sapians sapians); it certainly makes sense that we'd talk about it. And over the course of tens of thousands of years it makes sense that the tales get distorted. I've always wanted to see how far back I can trace legends of elves and fay and goblins and the like, and to see if the originals related to actual hominids.
I'm also not entirely sure I agree with the author's interpretation. I think the situation may be more complicated than "They were talking about snakes". We aren't the first culture to identify dinosaur bones; we're merely the first to identify them as dinosaurs, an extinct branch of reptiles that lived millions of years in the past (for the most part; paleontology necessitates becoming comfortable with paraphyletic groupings). I find it hard to believe that no one saw the bones and went "Holy crap! This is a monster!!!" In a time before the concept of extinction was accepted, and with only a handful of remains (often scattered, badly worn, and mixed together), concluding that something like a dragon as we know them existed isn't entirely unreasonable. At the very least the bones would add credibility to more outlanding tales--along the lines of "My cousin was hiking in the mountains and saw the bones of something just like you're describing. Only bigger, and with more teeth!"
As the thread title says, I'm pretty sure someone had a lot of fun with this. Actually, several someones--the author, the reviewers, and the editors. Science, far from being dry and stodgy, certainly has a whimsical side! :D
Here's an interesting article on Young Earth Creationism. There's a common argument made among YECs that ancient literature and art depict extinct animals. This article picks apart a few examples, from the Greek and Roman cultures.
I'm actually sympathetic to this view, to a limited extent. I've often wondered how many myths originated from encounters with now-extinct hominids. We know that humans and Neanderthals met each other (for clarification, by "human" I mean Homo sapians sapians); it certainly makes sense that we'd talk about it. And over the course of tens of thousands of years it makes sense that the tales get distorted. I've always wanted to see how far back I can trace legends of elves and fay and goblins and the like, and to see if the originals related to actual hominids.
I'm also not entirely sure I agree with the author's interpretation. I think the situation may be more complicated than "They were talking about snakes". We aren't the first culture to identify dinosaur bones; we're merely the first to identify them as dinosaurs, an extinct branch of reptiles that lived millions of years in the past (for the most part; paleontology necessitates becoming comfortable with paraphyletic groupings). I find it hard to believe that no one saw the bones and went "Holy crap! This is a monster!!!" In a time before the concept of extinction was accepted, and with only a handful of remains (often scattered, badly worn, and mixed together), concluding that something like a dragon as we know them existed isn't entirely unreasonable. At the very least the bones would add credibility to more outlanding tales--along the lines of "My cousin was hiking in the mountains and saw the bones of something just like you're describing. Only bigger, and with more teeth!"
As the thread title says, I'm pretty sure someone had a lot of fun with this. Actually, several someones--the author, the reviewers, and the editors. Science, far from being dry and stodgy, certainly has a whimsical side! :D
via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=269143&goto=newpost
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