The first fossil hunters: dinosaurs, mammoths, and myth in Greek and Roman times PDF
Preview The first fossil hunters: dinosaurs, mammoths, and myth in Greek and Roman times
THE FIRST FOSSIL HUNTERS This page intentionally left blank THE FIRST FOSSIL HUNTERS DINOSAURS, MAMMOTHS, AND MYTH IN GREEK AND ROMAN TIMES With a new introduction by the author Adrienne Mayor PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON AND OXFORD Copyright © 2000 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TW press .princeton.edu Cover design by C. Alvarez-Gaffin, based on illustrations by Ed Heck (copyright © Ed Heck, edheck.com) All Rights Reserved First printing, 2000 Seventh printing, and first paperback printing, 2001 Paperback reissue, with a new introduction by the author, 2011 Paperback ISBN 978-0-691-15013-0 The Library of Congress has cataloged the cloth edition of this book as follows Mayor, Adrienne, 1946- The first fossil hunters : paleontology in Greek and Roman times / Adrienne Mayor. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-691-05863-6 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Paleontology—Greece—History. 2. Paleontology—Rome—History. 3. Science, Ancient. I. Title. QE705.G8M39 2000 560'.938—dc21 99-43073 British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available This book has been composed in Galliard Typeface Printed on acid-free paper. °° Printed in the United States of America 1 3579 10 8642 For my parents BARBARA AND JOHN MAYOR This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS List of Illustrations ix Introduction to the 2011 Edition xiii Acknowledgments xxix Geological Time Scale 2 Introduction 3 Historical Time Line 11 CHAPTER 1. The Gold-Guarding Griffin: A Paleontological Legend 15 CHAPTER 2. Earthquakes and Elephants: Prehistoric Remains in Mediterranean Lands 54 CHAPTER 3. Ancient Discoveries of Giant Bones 104 CHAPTER 4. Artistic and Archaeological Evidence for Fossil Discoveries 157 CHAPTER 5. Mythology, Natural Philosophy, and Fossils 192 CHAPTER 6. Centaur Bones: Paleontological Fictions 228 viii CONTENTS APPENDIX 1. Large Vertebrate Fossil Species in the Ancient World 255 APPENDIX 2. Ancient Testimonia 260 Notes 283 Works Cited 333 Index 351 I LLUSTRATIONS MAPS 1.1 Trade routes between the Mediterranean and Asia 24 1.2 Issedonian territory, gold deposits and dinosaur exposures 28 2.1 Greece, the Aegean, and Anatolia 59 2.2 The ancient Greco-Roman world 62 3.1 Giant bones observed around the Aegean in antiquity 114 3.2 Giant bones observed around the Mediterranean in antiquity 127 3.3 Giant bones observed in Asia in antiquity 136 FIGURES 1.1. Typical griffin on a classical Greek vase painting 17 1.2. Fossil Samotherium skull (giant Miocene giraffe) 19 1.3. Fossil display, Paleontological Museum, Samos, Greece 20 1.4. Scythian tattoos, fifth century B.C. 25 1.5. Griffin nursing its young, Greek bronze, ca. 630 B.C. 27 1.6. Nomad fighting griffin in desert, classical Greek vase 31 1.7. Griffin in trap, Roman mosiac, Piazza Armerina, Sicily 34 1.8. Statue of dragon modeled on fossil rhinoceros skull, Klagenfurt, Austria 35 1.9. Classical Cyclops statue and elephant skull 36 1.10. Protoceratops skeleton 41 1.11. Protoceratops skull 41
The list of books you might like
