Elephant or Cyclops? The Mistaken Identity of Animal Bones - Ep 59

Rachel Roden

June 6, 2023

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From dragons, to unicorns and Divine Chickens, this episode is all about mythological creatures and how they may (or may not) have been inspired by fossilised remains of extinct species. Our friend Pliny the Elder makes an appearance once again, along with a peculiar extinct giraffe species.

Transcripts

Links and Sources

Bressan, D. (2012) Early Paleoart: Of Prehistoric Monsters and Men. Scientific American.
Bressan, D. (2019) Nineteenth-Century Fossil Discoveries Influence Sea Serpent Reports. Forbes.
Christen, A. G., & Christen, J. A. (2011). The unicorn and the narwhal: a tale of the tooth. Journal of the History of Dentistry, 59(3), 135-142.
Duffin, C. J., & Davidson, J. P. (2011). Geology and the dark side. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 122(1), 7-15.
Edmonds, P. (2018). The bunyip as uncanny rupture: Fabulous animals, innocuous quadrupeds and the Australian anthropocene. Australian Humanities Review, 63, 80-98.
Hand, W.D. (2021). Magical Medicine: The Folkloric Component of Medicine in the Folk Belief, Custom, and Ritual of the Peoples of Europe and America. University of California Press. p. 298.
Mayor, A. and Heaney, M. (1993). "Griffins and Arimaspeans". Folklore. 104 (1–2): 40.
Mayor, A. (2005). Fossil Legends of the First Americans. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
Mayor, A. (2011). The First Fossil Hunters: Dinosaurs, Mammoths, and Myth in Greek and Roman Times. Princeton University Press.
McDaniel, S. (2020) Were Mythical Creatures Inspired by Fossils? Tales of Time Forgotten.
Pappas, S. (2017) Cyclops and Dragon Tongues: How Real Fossils Inspired Giant Myths. LiveScience.
Stothers, R. B. (2004). Ancient scientific basis of the “Great Serpent” from historical evidence. Isis, 95(2), 220-238.
Witton, M.P. (2016) Why Protoceratops almost certainly wasn't the inspiration for the griffin legend. Mark P. Witton’s Blog.
Xing, L., Mayor, A., Chen, Y., Harris, J. D., & Burns, M. E. (2011). The folklore of dinosaur trackways in China: Impact on Paleontology. Ichnos, 18(4), 213-220.

Contact

Alex FitzpatrickTwitter: @archaeologyfitz
Simona FalangaTwitter: @CrazyBoneLady
Alex’s Blog: Animal Archaeology
Music "Coconut - (dyalla remix)" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2UiKoouqaY

Affiliates

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ArcheoWebby

February 1, 2022

The Zooarchaeology of Myth & Legends (Part Two) - Ep 43

ArcheoWebby

February 1, 2022

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This is part two of a miniseries on the zooarchaeology of mythological creatures. Learn more about the anatomy of creatures such as the Minotaur and Cerberus, but most importantly, how a centaur would wear trousers.

Start your own podcast with Zencastr and get 30% off your first three months with code ANIMALS. Click this message for more information.

Transcripts

Sources

Morford, M. and Lenardon, R. (2003). Classical Mythology (7 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hamilton, E. (2017) Mythology. New York: Hachette Book Group.
Stallings, A. E. (2018) Works and Days. London: Penguin Books.