taken from: http://www.trueauthority.com/dinosaurs/dinosaurhistory.htm
The dragon . . . one of the principle and most powerful, prevalent symbols of history as we know it. How could such reverential, awe-inspiring creatures of man's simple imagination have such an impact upon almost every civilization of the past? Could it be, just perhaps, that what countless numbers of people have written about through the course of time could have been actual, living animals? To some this seems absurd, but when all the facts and truths are put together, much more than myth and legend are revealed.
Introduction
To test this assertion, we will now examine the issue by considering the written evidence that has survived from the records of various ancient peoples that describe, sometimes in most graphic detail, human encounters with living giant reptiles that we today would call dinosaurs. And as we shall see, some of those records are not so ancient.
First, however, let's briefly look at the common "dragon knowledge" we read from our history books. The ancient Norsemen adorned the prows of their vessels with carved likenesses of dragons. Among the Celtic conquerors of Britain the dragon was a symbol of sovereignty. Dragons were also depicted on the shields of the Teutonic tribes that later invaded Britain, and it appeared on the battle standards of the English kings as late as the 16th century. Beginning in the early 20th century, it was inscribed on the armorial bearings of the Prince of Wales.
The dragon also figures in the mythology of various Oriental countries, notably Japan and China. It is deified in the Daoist (Taoist) religion and was the national emblem of the Chinese Empire. Among the Chinese people, the dragon is traditionally regarded as a symbol of good fortune.[1]
More than myths and legends, however, we find a numerous amount of accurate historical accounts of "dinosaur-like" dragons from all around the world.
Following from source [2]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FRANCE
The city of Nerluc was renamed in honor of the killing of a "dragon" there. This animal was bigger than an ox and had long, sharp, pointed horns on its head. There were a number of different horned dinosaurs. The Triceratops is one example.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ITALY
A scientist named Ulysses Aldrovandus carefully described a small "dragon" seen along a farm road in northern Italy. The date was May 13, 1572. The poor, rare creature was so small that a farmer killed it just by knocking it on the head with his walking stick.
The animal had done nothing wrong but hiss at the farmer's oxen as they approached it on the road. The scientist got the dead body and made measurements and a drawing. He even had the animal mounted for a museum. It had a long neck, a very long tail and a fat body.
The skeletons of a number of ancient reptile-like creatures match this basic description.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHINA
Thousands of dragon stories and pictures can be found in ancient Chinese books and art. One interesting legend tells about a famous Chinese man named Yu. After the great world flood, Yu surveyed the land of China and divided it into sections. He "built channels to drain the water off to the sea" and helped make the land livable again. Many snakes and "dragons" were driven from the marshlands when Yu created the new farmlands.
Ancient Chinese books even tell of a family that kept "dragons" and raised babies. It is said that in those days, Chinese kings used "dragons" for pulling royal chariots on special occasions, a fact of which famous explorer Marco Polo himself attested to.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
Over the years of time, truth can often become distorted; events are exaggerated, facts are made more exciting. This, we believe, is the case with dinosaurs and dragons. Today we think of them as magical, mystical, fictitious beings, but as any historian will tell you, almost all legends and myths are based on true, actual facts and events. A fire-breathing dragon? Is it possible? Scientists still are puzzled by hollow naval cavities found in the skulls of many dinosaur specimens found today. They seem to serve no purpose. Or did they?
Delve into this exciting topic. We ask the skeptic to read, observe the evidence, and keep an open mind. History, we hope, will never be the same.
-----------------------------------
DINOSAUR EXTINCTION
Putting Two and Two Together...
If one was to conduct a questionnaire, a questionnaire putting forth one simple question, given to people of average intelligence, a result would entail revealing an astounding "hidden knowledge" inherent in us human beings. It would be as follows:
"What historical animal, real or fictitious, do we have more stories about being killed because of its threat to people?"
It might take a brief minute of thinking, but the majority would unquestionably reply "A dragon." Why? Why do we have so many legends, accounts, and fire-side tales of these large, ferocious, reptilian creatures? . . . and why, to step further, are they all acquainted with death? Why is there always a knight, noble, king, or peasant, sent by the people to slay the dragon? And why, we must honestly ask ourselves, do dragons possess so many similarities to what we today know as dinosaurs?
Let us begin with the first question. As every historian will tell you, historical legends are all based on some amount of fact, i.e. King Arthur, Robin Hood, Gilgamesh, etc. More then just your common stories, legends do in fact open the door in allowing us to, in a sense, go back in time. We can ponder the truths given in the legend of St. George and his encounter with a reptilian animal. While some dragon legends possess exaggerations, magic and marvelous deeds, the account of St. George is free from any of this.
However, when one finds actual accounts, accounts written as if one was writing about an encounter with a lion or bear of today, the notion that dinosaurs were only animals of "pre-historic times" becomes absurd.
DINOSAURS IN HISTORY
British Isles - Anglo-Saxon Records [3]
One account takes us back to the days of the early Britons, from whom the modern Welsh are descended. They provide us with our earliest surviving European accounts of reptilian monsters, one of whom killed and devoured King Morvidus in 336 B.C. We are told in the amazing account, translated for us by Geoffrey of Monmouth, that the monster "gulped down the body of Morvidus as a big fish swallows a little one." Geoffrey himself described the animal as a Belua. The Belua was described as reptilian, and when we endeavor to compare it with any other animal of today, coupled with the fact that it gulped down Morvidus "as a big fish swallows a little one," we find it difficult in doing so. No land animal of today, let alone reptilian, could devour a human by such standards. Therefore, Geoffrey was either a flat out liar, or he told the truth.
In the British Isles alone there are approximately 200 locations in which dinosaur activity has been reported. Going into the future to the year 1405, we now visit Bures in Soffolk, where a chronicle reveals to us the physical reality of yet another dinosaur:
"Close to the town of Bures, near Sudbury, there has lately appeared, to the great hurt of the countryside, a dragon, vast in body, with a crested head, teeth like a saw, and a tail extending to an enormous length. Having slaughtered the shepherd of a flock, it devoured many sheep."
After an unsuccessful attempt by local archers to kill the beast, due to its impenetrable hide:
"...in order to destroy him, all the country people around were summoned. But when the dragon saw that he was again to be assailed with arrows, he fled into a marsh or mere and there hid himself among the long reeds, and was no more seen."
As you continue to read, you may perhaps think to yourself, "Why aren't these chronicles from history more well known? Why have I not heard or read about these things before?" Sadly, most historians throw aside these accounts, simply because the word "dragon" is used. As the term "dinosaur" wasn't invented until the 1800s, to do so is foolish and a detriment to history itself.
In the 15th century, according to a contemporary chronicle that still survives in Canterbury Cathedral's library, the following incident was reported. On the afternoon of Friday, September 26, 1449, two giant reptiles were seen fighting on the banks of the River Stour (near the village of Little Cornard) which marked the English county borders of Suffolk and Essex. One was black, and the other "reddish and spotted". After an hour-long struggle that took place "to the admiration of many beholding them", the black monster yielded and returned to its lair, the scene of the conflict being known ever since as Sharpfight Meadow.
As late as August, 1614, the following sober account was given of a strange reptile that was encountered in St. Leonard's Forest in Sussex.
The sighting was near a village that was known as 'Dragon's Green' long before this report was published. Original writing has been kept for authenticity:
"This serpent is reputed to be nine feete, or rather more, in length, and shaped almost in the form of an axletree of a cart: a quantite of thickness in the middest, and somewhat smaller at both endes. The former part, which he shootes forth as a necke, is supposed to be an elle long (3 ft. 9 inch); with a white ring, as it were, of scales about it. The scales along his back seem to be blackish, and so much as is discovered under his bellie, appeareth to be red . . . it is likewise discovered to have large feete, but the eye may there be deceived, for some suppose that serpents have no feete . . . (The dragon) rids away as fast as a man can run. His food (rabbits) is thought to be, for the most part, in a conie-warren, which he much frequents . . . There are likewise upon either side of him discovered two great bunches so big as a large foote-ball, and (as some thinke) will in time grow to wings, but God, I hope, will (to defend the poor people in the neighbourhood) that he shall be destroyed before he grows to fledge."
This dragon was reportedly seen in various places within a circuit of three or four miles, and the pamphlet named some of the still-living witnesses who had seen him. These included as follows: John Steele, Christopher Holder, and a certain "widow woman dwelling neare Faygate". Another witness was "the carrier of Horsham, who lieth at the White Horse (inn) in Southwark". One of the locals set his two mastiffs onto the monster, and apart from losing his dogs, he was fortunate to escape with his own life, for the dragon was already credited with the deaths of a man and woman at whom it had spat and how consequently had been killed by its venom. When approached unwittingly, our pamphleteer tells us the monster was:
"...of countenance very proud and at the sight or hearing of men or cattel will raise his neck upright and seem to listen and looke about, with great arrogancy."
Fascinating . . . a true eyewitness account of typically reptilian behavior.
Going ahead to the year 1867, less than 200 years ago (2 years after the American Civil War), the monster that lived in the woods around Fittleworth in Sussex was last seen. It would reportedly run up to people hissing and spitting if they happened to stumble across it unawares, although it never harmed anyone. Several such cases could be cited, but suffice it to say that too many incidents like these are reported down through the centuries and from all sorts of locations for us to say that they are all fairy-tales.
VENOMOUS SALIVA?
Let us stop for a moment to consider an interesting and historically repeated fact. Some of these reptilian monsters, as reported here twice, are said to have spit at their enemies. Not only that, their saliva was said to be lethal. Being acquainted with Hollywood, one immediately thinks back upon the blockbuster hit, Jurassic Park, in which a Dilophosaurus spits at and kills a main character. Amazingly, the description given in the 1405 account seems to accurately portray a living Dilophosaurus, as shown right. Again, the animal was "vast in body, with a crested head, teeth like a saw, and a tail extending to an enormous length."
DILOPHOSAURUS
What distinguishes itself the most among these descriptions is the "crested head." The name Dilophosaurus means "two-crested lizard." It was given this name for the two ridges, or crests, of very thin bone, that ran side by side on its head, from behind the eyes to the tip of the nose.
"Vast in body..."
The Dilophosaurus could grow to a length of 20 feet (6 meters), and was extremely thick.
"Teeth like a saw..."
The Dilophosaurus is notorious in the scientific community for its razor sharp teeth. It also possessed three-fingered hands attached with sharp-claws. From the look of its skeleton, it appeared to be an extremely fierce hunter.
One other note of interest are the crests of this particular dinosaur. The bone is as thin as paper, making it an obviously delicate (and vulnerable) part of its body. A typical question you may find when reading about a Dilophosaurus is, "Could it have attacked and fought other large dinosaurs without damaging its delicate crest? Or did it prey only on small creatures?" Believing that a few species of this animal were still alive only a few hundred years ago, the logical conclusion to this question would be the latter question . . . small creatures.
The following is a list of locations throughout Britain where dinosaur activity has been historically reported:
Aller, Somerset; Anwick, Lincolnshire; Bamburgh, Nothumberland; Beckhole, North Yorkshire; Bedd-yr-Afranc, Wales; Ben Vair, Scotland; Bignor Hill, West Sussex; Bishop Auckland, Durham; Bisterne, Hampshire; Brent Pelham, Hertfordshire; Brinsop, Hereford and Worcester; Bures, Suffolk; Cadbury Castle, Devon; Carhampton, Somerset; Castle Carlton, Lincolnshire; Castle Neroche, Somerset; Challacombe, Devon; Churchstanton, Somerset; Cnoc-na-Cnoimh, Scotland; Crowcombe, Somerset; Dalry, Scotland; Deerhurst, Gloucestershire; Dol-y-Carrog, Wales; Dragonhoard, Oxfordshire; Drake Howe, North Yorkshire; Drakelow, Derbyshire; Drakelowe, Worcestershire; Filey Brigg, North Yorkshire; Handale Priory, North Yorkshire; Henham, Essex; Hornden, Essex; Kellington, North Yorkshire; Kilve, Somerset; Kingston St. Mary, Somerset; Lambton Castle, Durham; Linton, Scotland; Little Cornard, Suffolk; Llandeilo Graban, Wales; Llanraeadr-ym-Mochnant, Wales; Llyn Barfog, Wales; Llyn Cynwch, Wales; Llyn Llion, Wales; Llyn-y-Gader, Wales; Llyn-yr-Afanc, Wales; Loch Awe, Scotland; Loch Maree, Scotland; Loch Morar, Scotland; Loch Ness, Scotland; Loch Rannoch, Scotland; Longwitton, Northumberland; Ludham, Norfolk; Lyminster, West Sussex; Manaton, Devon; Money Hill, Northumberland; Moston, Cheshire; Newcastle Emlyn, Wales; Norton Fitzwarren, Hereford and Worcester; Nunnington, North Yorkshire; Old Field Barrows, Shropshire; Penllin Castle, Wales; Penmark, Wales; Penmynydd, Wales; St. Albans, Hertfordshire; St. Leonard's Forest, West Sussex; St. Osyth, Essex; Saffron Waldon, Essex; Sexhow, North Yorkshire; Shervage Wood, Hereford and Worcester; Slingsby, North Yorkshire; Sockburn, Durham; Stinchcombe, Gloucestershire; Strathmartin, Scotland; Walmsgate, Lincolnshire; Wantley, South Yorkshire; Well, North Yorkshire; Wherwell, Hampshire; Whitehorse Hill, Oxfordshire; Winkleigh, Devon; Wiston, Wales; Wormelow Tump, Hereford and Worcester; Wormingford, Essex.
-----------------------------------
FOR US TO SEE...FOR US TO READ
What Our Ancestors Have Left Behind...
The arguments against dinosaurs existing in recent history become more and more desperate as the truth unfolds. The next weapon the skeptic often unsheathes is a question, unfortunately, many individuals have a hard time answering:
"What painting, drawings, or carvings do we find of living dinosaurs? Animals of all kinds have been artistically portrayed all throughout history, so why not dinosaurs?"
Sadly, only ignorance cannot give an ample answer to this question. Take, for instance, the Roman mosaic shown to the right. Dated around the 2nd century A.D., this piece of artwork portrays two large, long-necked animals. No fanciful wings, no multiple heads, no magical, mythical characteristics . . . simply two large creatures that the artist took his time to portray. Trusting that the animals were based upon first-hand experience, and taking into account that the artist deliberately placed them by the sea, it would appear that these were a species of Tanystropheus, an aquatic, webbed dinosaur.[2]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We now move on to a phenomenon which occurred almost 40 years ago. Known as the Ica Stones of Peru, they first came to the attention of the scientific community in 1966 when Dr. Javier Cabrera, a local physician, received a small, carved rock for his birthday from a poor native. The carving on the rock looked ancient to Dr. Cabrera, but intrigued him because it seemed to depict a primitive fish. Hearing that the doctor was interested in the stone, local natives began to bring him more, which they collected from a river bank. This soon developed into a vast collection of more than 50,000 stones, many etched with seemingly impossible scenes. Whereas it might be difficult to prove that the fish represented a long-extinct species, as Dr. Cabrera thought, other scenes carved on other stones are not so ambiguous. They clearly depict such dinosaurs as triceratops, stegosaurus, apatosaurus, and human figures riding on the backs of flying pterodactyls. What’s more, some of the scenes are of men hunting and killing dinosaurs. Others show men watching the heavens through what look like telescopes, performing open-heart surgery, and cesarean section births.
As many ancient civilizations were more advanced then previously thought, telescopes and performed surgeries should not come as a surprise. However, to see dinosaurs etched on these stones does come as a surprise (to many). Again, in all, more than 50,000 stones discovered, varying in size from that of a baseball to as large as a sofa. As a first thought, the mere large number of them indicates that they are indeed genuine 'relics.' However, more proof is needed, and of that, such proof exists.
The stones themselves are composed of andesite, a very hard mineral that would make etching quite difficult with primitive tools. They are covered with a natural varnish that is created by bacteria over thousands of years. The etching is made by scraping away this dark varnish to reveal the lighter mineral beneath. According to some reports, examinations of the stones show that the grooves of the etchings also bear traces of additional varnish, however, indicating that they are very old.
Ica natives had, in fact, been selling such stones to the tourist trade. Interestingly, the natives of the area can still be seen today making etchings on stones in the style of the Ica Stones to sell to tourists. However, the distinction between their product and the “genuine” stones is that the newly etched stones clearly scrape away all of the varnish. In essence, the present-day Ica's cannot make them like the ones found years ago. This, of course, is a very significant fact.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At a museum in Manitou Springs, Colorado, exists an artifact on display that has raised more questions than anything else ever discovered in the area; An Indian prayer stick, roughly a foot long, with a crested head, eyes on both sides, and a mouth. When looked upon by anyone acquainted with "prehistoric reptiles," whether it be the common 4-year old to the respected paleontologist, its identity simply cannot, and will not, be ignored. The artistically and well-defined head of a Pterodactyl stands atop the stick, raising many questions of how they molded the head of a species long extinct, and why they did so. Many legends exist of large "reptilian birds" in the area, and this, as of now, appears to be the only realistic answer.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The portrayal from a Saxon shield discovered years ago reveals the same unmistakable creature. A flying reptile at rest, wings folded along its sides, a long beak, and that full of teeth. Comparison of this with a modern reconstruction of a Pterodactyl or similar animal is most instructive, especially when looking back into Anglo-Saxon history. As late as the beginning of the present century, elderly folk at Penllin in Glamorgan used to tell of a colony of winged serpents that lived in the woods around Penllin Castle. As Marie Trevelyan tells us:
"The woods around Penllin Castle, Glamorgan, had the reputation of being frequented by winged serpents, and these were the terror of old and young alike. An aged inhabitant of Penllyne, who died a few years ago, said that in his boyhood the winged serpents were described as very beautiful. They were coiled when in repose, and 'looked as if they were covered with jewels of all sorts. Some of them had crests sparkling with all the colours of the rainbow.' When disturbed they glided swiftly, 'sparkling all over', to their hiding places. When angry, they 'flew over people's heads, with outspread wings bright, and sometimes with eyes too, like the feathers in a peacock's tail'. He said it was 'no old story invented to frighten children', but a real fact. His father and uncle had killed some of them, for they were as bad as foxes for poultry. The old man attributed the extinction of the winged serpents to the fact that they were 'terrors in the farmyards and coverts'."[3]
This account is intriguing in many respects, not the least being the fact that it is not a typical account of dragons. The creatures concerned were not solitary and monstrous beasts, but small creatures that lived in colonies.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A stone can be seen inside the church of SS. Mary and Hardulph at Breedon-on-the-Hill in Leicestershire . . . a stone with very peculiar, graphic engravings; A portrayal from Saxon times of an attack on a herd of long-necked quadrupeds (four-legged) by a bipedal (two-legged) predator. Note the predator's two large legs and puny forelimbs. This portrayal conforms very closley indeed to the description of Grendel, and is a clear indication that such creatures were to be seen on the British mainland as well as the Continent, as is also shown by Athelstan's and other charters.[3]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In 1902, a group of scientists and workmen dug up part of the wall of a 2,500-year-old city. On that wall was a mystery.
The city was Babylon, which once stood on the banks of the Euphrates River in the Near East, in what is now the nation of Iraq. Babylon was once the capital of the kingdom of Babylonia, one of the world's greatest cities. It was a huge square of houses, temples, and palaces, surrounded by a high wall made of shiny, colored bricks. What scientists discovered and dug up was a part of the wall with a gateway. The gateway was decorated with sculptors of three kinds of animals, arranged in rows. One animal was a lion, while another was a bull. The third, however, was a strange creature such as none of the scientists had ever seen before.
The creature had a scaly body with a long tail and a long snakelike neck. A forked tongue, like the tongue of a snake, stuck out its mouth, and a long horn stuck up from its forehead. Its front legs looked much like the legs and feet of a cat. However, it had scaly back legs, along with clawed feet. Whatever animal this thing was, the portrayer certainly made it clear that it was a reptile. Interestingly, the artists had shown the muscles and skin and hair of the lion and bull so well that those animals looked almost real. And what they showed of this creature, too, looked almost real.
Surprising though it seems, even though the scientists had never seen this creature before, they knew what it was supposed to be, for the king, that is, King Nebuchadnezzar, had left writings that described the decoration. The writings, found and translated, revealed that Nebuchadnezzar had called the creature a Sirrush, which was the Babylonian word for Dragon.[4]
In some versions of the Bible, contained in the last few chapters of Daniel, the Sirrush is made mention of. In fact, it is the subject of a controversial situation. The Sirrush, or dragon, was kept in a temple in Babylon during the days of Nebuchadnezzar. This creature was worshipped as a god, and according to the story, the Hebrew prophet Daniel proved that the creature was not a god by feeding it poisoned food, which eventually killed it.
Whether or not we today regard the Sirrush as a living, breathing animal, King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians did, and it perhaps would be wise for us to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Much more could be written about dinosaurs throughout the history of mankind, and such will be written. For now, consider not only the possibility of dinosaurs alongside man, but moreso, the distinct probability.
References:
1. Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2005 Reference Library Premium (DVD), article: ‘Dragon’.
2. The Great Dinosaur Mystery. Chariot Victor Publishing, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80918. Paul S. Taylor. ©1987.
3. After The Flood. New Wine Press, PO Box 17, Chichester, West Sussex, PO20 6YB, England. Bill Cooper. 1995.
4. Childcraft Annual, Mysteries and Fantasies, World Book Inc., 'What Was the Sirrush of Babylon?', pp. 156-159. 1986.
The dragon . . . one of the principle and most powerful, prevalent symbols of history as we know it. How could such reverential, awe-inspiring creatures of man's simple imagination have such an impact upon almost every civilization of the past? Could it be, just perhaps, that what countless numbers of people have written about through the course of time could have been actual, living animals? To some this seems absurd, but when all the facts and truths are put together, much more than myth and legend are revealed.
Introduction
To test this assertion, we will now examine the issue by considering the written evidence that has survived from the records of various ancient peoples that describe, sometimes in most graphic detail, human encounters with living giant reptiles that we today would call dinosaurs. And as we shall see, some of those records are not so ancient.
First, however, let's briefly look at the common "dragon knowledge" we read from our history books. The ancient Norsemen adorned the prows of their vessels with carved likenesses of dragons. Among the Celtic conquerors of Britain the dragon was a symbol of sovereignty. Dragons were also depicted on the shields of the Teutonic tribes that later invaded Britain, and it appeared on the battle standards of the English kings as late as the 16th century. Beginning in the early 20th century, it was inscribed on the armorial bearings of the Prince of Wales.
The dragon also figures in the mythology of various Oriental countries, notably Japan and China. It is deified in the Daoist (Taoist) religion and was the national emblem of the Chinese Empire. Among the Chinese people, the dragon is traditionally regarded as a symbol of good fortune.[1]
More than myths and legends, however, we find a numerous amount of accurate historical accounts of "dinosaur-like" dragons from all around the world.
Following from source [2]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FRANCE
The city of Nerluc was renamed in honor of the killing of a "dragon" there. This animal was bigger than an ox and had long, sharp, pointed horns on its head. There were a number of different horned dinosaurs. The Triceratops is one example.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ITALY
A scientist named Ulysses Aldrovandus carefully described a small "dragon" seen along a farm road in northern Italy. The date was May 13, 1572. The poor, rare creature was so small that a farmer killed it just by knocking it on the head with his walking stick.
The animal had done nothing wrong but hiss at the farmer's oxen as they approached it on the road. The scientist got the dead body and made measurements and a drawing. He even had the animal mounted for a museum. It had a long neck, a very long tail and a fat body.
The skeletons of a number of ancient reptile-like creatures match this basic description.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHINA
Thousands of dragon stories and pictures can be found in ancient Chinese books and art. One interesting legend tells about a famous Chinese man named Yu. After the great world flood, Yu surveyed the land of China and divided it into sections. He "built channels to drain the water off to the sea" and helped make the land livable again. Many snakes and "dragons" were driven from the marshlands when Yu created the new farmlands.
Ancient Chinese books even tell of a family that kept "dragons" and raised babies. It is said that in those days, Chinese kings used "dragons" for pulling royal chariots on special occasions, a fact of which famous explorer Marco Polo himself attested to.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
Over the years of time, truth can often become distorted; events are exaggerated, facts are made more exciting. This, we believe, is the case with dinosaurs and dragons. Today we think of them as magical, mystical, fictitious beings, but as any historian will tell you, almost all legends and myths are based on true, actual facts and events. A fire-breathing dragon? Is it possible? Scientists still are puzzled by hollow naval cavities found in the skulls of many dinosaur specimens found today. They seem to serve no purpose. Or did they?
Delve into this exciting topic. We ask the skeptic to read, observe the evidence, and keep an open mind. History, we hope, will never be the same.
-----------------------------------
DINOSAUR EXTINCTION
Putting Two and Two Together...
If one was to conduct a questionnaire, a questionnaire putting forth one simple question, given to people of average intelligence, a result would entail revealing an astounding "hidden knowledge" inherent in us human beings. It would be as follows:
"What historical animal, real or fictitious, do we have more stories about being killed because of its threat to people?"
It might take a brief minute of thinking, but the majority would unquestionably reply "A dragon." Why? Why do we have so many legends, accounts, and fire-side tales of these large, ferocious, reptilian creatures? . . . and why, to step further, are they all acquainted with death? Why is there always a knight, noble, king, or peasant, sent by the people to slay the dragon? And why, we must honestly ask ourselves, do dragons possess so many similarities to what we today know as dinosaurs?
Let us begin with the first question. As every historian will tell you, historical legends are all based on some amount of fact, i.e. King Arthur, Robin Hood, Gilgamesh, etc. More then just your common stories, legends do in fact open the door in allowing us to, in a sense, go back in time. We can ponder the truths given in the legend of St. George and his encounter with a reptilian animal. While some dragon legends possess exaggerations, magic and marvelous deeds, the account of St. George is free from any of this.
However, when one finds actual accounts, accounts written as if one was writing about an encounter with a lion or bear of today, the notion that dinosaurs were only animals of "pre-historic times" becomes absurd.
DINOSAURS IN HISTORY
British Isles - Anglo-Saxon Records [3]
One account takes us back to the days of the early Britons, from whom the modern Welsh are descended. They provide us with our earliest surviving European accounts of reptilian monsters, one of whom killed and devoured King Morvidus in 336 B.C. We are told in the amazing account, translated for us by Geoffrey of Monmouth, that the monster "gulped down the body of Morvidus as a big fish swallows a little one." Geoffrey himself described the animal as a Belua. The Belua was described as reptilian, and when we endeavor to compare it with any other animal of today, coupled with the fact that it gulped down Morvidus "as a big fish swallows a little one," we find it difficult in doing so. No land animal of today, let alone reptilian, could devour a human by such standards. Therefore, Geoffrey was either a flat out liar, or he told the truth.
In the British Isles alone there are approximately 200 locations in which dinosaur activity has been reported. Going into the future to the year 1405, we now visit Bures in Soffolk, where a chronicle reveals to us the physical reality of yet another dinosaur:
"Close to the town of Bures, near Sudbury, there has lately appeared, to the great hurt of the countryside, a dragon, vast in body, with a crested head, teeth like a saw, and a tail extending to an enormous length. Having slaughtered the shepherd of a flock, it devoured many sheep."
After an unsuccessful attempt by local archers to kill the beast, due to its impenetrable hide:
"...in order to destroy him, all the country people around were summoned. But when the dragon saw that he was again to be assailed with arrows, he fled into a marsh or mere and there hid himself among the long reeds, and was no more seen."
As you continue to read, you may perhaps think to yourself, "Why aren't these chronicles from history more well known? Why have I not heard or read about these things before?" Sadly, most historians throw aside these accounts, simply because the word "dragon" is used. As the term "dinosaur" wasn't invented until the 1800s, to do so is foolish and a detriment to history itself.
In the 15th century, according to a contemporary chronicle that still survives in Canterbury Cathedral's library, the following incident was reported. On the afternoon of Friday, September 26, 1449, two giant reptiles were seen fighting on the banks of the River Stour (near the village of Little Cornard) which marked the English county borders of Suffolk and Essex. One was black, and the other "reddish and spotted". After an hour-long struggle that took place "to the admiration of many beholding them", the black monster yielded and returned to its lair, the scene of the conflict being known ever since as Sharpfight Meadow.
As late as August, 1614, the following sober account was given of a strange reptile that was encountered in St. Leonard's Forest in Sussex.
The sighting was near a village that was known as 'Dragon's Green' long before this report was published. Original writing has been kept for authenticity:
"This serpent is reputed to be nine feete, or rather more, in length, and shaped almost in the form of an axletree of a cart: a quantite of thickness in the middest, and somewhat smaller at both endes. The former part, which he shootes forth as a necke, is supposed to be an elle long (3 ft. 9 inch); with a white ring, as it were, of scales about it. The scales along his back seem to be blackish, and so much as is discovered under his bellie, appeareth to be red . . . it is likewise discovered to have large feete, but the eye may there be deceived, for some suppose that serpents have no feete . . . (The dragon) rids away as fast as a man can run. His food (rabbits) is thought to be, for the most part, in a conie-warren, which he much frequents . . . There are likewise upon either side of him discovered two great bunches so big as a large foote-ball, and (as some thinke) will in time grow to wings, but God, I hope, will (to defend the poor people in the neighbourhood) that he shall be destroyed before he grows to fledge."
This dragon was reportedly seen in various places within a circuit of three or four miles, and the pamphlet named some of the still-living witnesses who had seen him. These included as follows: John Steele, Christopher Holder, and a certain "widow woman dwelling neare Faygate". Another witness was "the carrier of Horsham, who lieth at the White Horse (inn) in Southwark". One of the locals set his two mastiffs onto the monster, and apart from losing his dogs, he was fortunate to escape with his own life, for the dragon was already credited with the deaths of a man and woman at whom it had spat and how consequently had been killed by its venom. When approached unwittingly, our pamphleteer tells us the monster was:
"...of countenance very proud and at the sight or hearing of men or cattel will raise his neck upright and seem to listen and looke about, with great arrogancy."
Fascinating . . . a true eyewitness account of typically reptilian behavior.
Going ahead to the year 1867, less than 200 years ago (2 years after the American Civil War), the monster that lived in the woods around Fittleworth in Sussex was last seen. It would reportedly run up to people hissing and spitting if they happened to stumble across it unawares, although it never harmed anyone. Several such cases could be cited, but suffice it to say that too many incidents like these are reported down through the centuries and from all sorts of locations for us to say that they are all fairy-tales.
VENOMOUS SALIVA?
Let us stop for a moment to consider an interesting and historically repeated fact. Some of these reptilian monsters, as reported here twice, are said to have spit at their enemies. Not only that, their saliva was said to be lethal. Being acquainted with Hollywood, one immediately thinks back upon the blockbuster hit, Jurassic Park, in which a Dilophosaurus spits at and kills a main character. Amazingly, the description given in the 1405 account seems to accurately portray a living Dilophosaurus, as shown right. Again, the animal was "vast in body, with a crested head, teeth like a saw, and a tail extending to an enormous length."
DILOPHOSAURUS
What distinguishes itself the most among these descriptions is the "crested head." The name Dilophosaurus means "two-crested lizard." It was given this name for the two ridges, or crests, of very thin bone, that ran side by side on its head, from behind the eyes to the tip of the nose.
"Vast in body..."
The Dilophosaurus could grow to a length of 20 feet (6 meters), and was extremely thick.
"Teeth like a saw..."
The Dilophosaurus is notorious in the scientific community for its razor sharp teeth. It also possessed three-fingered hands attached with sharp-claws. From the look of its skeleton, it appeared to be an extremely fierce hunter.
One other note of interest are the crests of this particular dinosaur. The bone is as thin as paper, making it an obviously delicate (and vulnerable) part of its body. A typical question you may find when reading about a Dilophosaurus is, "Could it have attacked and fought other large dinosaurs without damaging its delicate crest? Or did it prey only on small creatures?" Believing that a few species of this animal were still alive only a few hundred years ago, the logical conclusion to this question would be the latter question . . . small creatures.
The following is a list of locations throughout Britain where dinosaur activity has been historically reported:
Aller, Somerset; Anwick, Lincolnshire; Bamburgh, Nothumberland; Beckhole, North Yorkshire; Bedd-yr-Afranc, Wales; Ben Vair, Scotland; Bignor Hill, West Sussex; Bishop Auckland, Durham; Bisterne, Hampshire; Brent Pelham, Hertfordshire; Brinsop, Hereford and Worcester; Bures, Suffolk; Cadbury Castle, Devon; Carhampton, Somerset; Castle Carlton, Lincolnshire; Castle Neroche, Somerset; Challacombe, Devon; Churchstanton, Somerset; Cnoc-na-Cnoimh, Scotland; Crowcombe, Somerset; Dalry, Scotland; Deerhurst, Gloucestershire; Dol-y-Carrog, Wales; Dragonhoard, Oxfordshire; Drake Howe, North Yorkshire; Drakelow, Derbyshire; Drakelowe, Worcestershire; Filey Brigg, North Yorkshire; Handale Priory, North Yorkshire; Henham, Essex; Hornden, Essex; Kellington, North Yorkshire; Kilve, Somerset; Kingston St. Mary, Somerset; Lambton Castle, Durham; Linton, Scotland; Little Cornard, Suffolk; Llandeilo Graban, Wales; Llanraeadr-ym-Mochnant, Wales; Llyn Barfog, Wales; Llyn Cynwch, Wales; Llyn Llion, Wales; Llyn-y-Gader, Wales; Llyn-yr-Afanc, Wales; Loch Awe, Scotland; Loch Maree, Scotland; Loch Morar, Scotland; Loch Ness, Scotland; Loch Rannoch, Scotland; Longwitton, Northumberland; Ludham, Norfolk; Lyminster, West Sussex; Manaton, Devon; Money Hill, Northumberland; Moston, Cheshire; Newcastle Emlyn, Wales; Norton Fitzwarren, Hereford and Worcester; Nunnington, North Yorkshire; Old Field Barrows, Shropshire; Penllin Castle, Wales; Penmark, Wales; Penmynydd, Wales; St. Albans, Hertfordshire; St. Leonard's Forest, West Sussex; St. Osyth, Essex; Saffron Waldon, Essex; Sexhow, North Yorkshire; Shervage Wood, Hereford and Worcester; Slingsby, North Yorkshire; Sockburn, Durham; Stinchcombe, Gloucestershire; Strathmartin, Scotland; Walmsgate, Lincolnshire; Wantley, South Yorkshire; Well, North Yorkshire; Wherwell, Hampshire; Whitehorse Hill, Oxfordshire; Winkleigh, Devon; Wiston, Wales; Wormelow Tump, Hereford and Worcester; Wormingford, Essex.
-----------------------------------
FOR US TO SEE...FOR US TO READ
What Our Ancestors Have Left Behind...
The arguments against dinosaurs existing in recent history become more and more desperate as the truth unfolds. The next weapon the skeptic often unsheathes is a question, unfortunately, many individuals have a hard time answering:
"What painting, drawings, or carvings do we find of living dinosaurs? Animals of all kinds have been artistically portrayed all throughout history, so why not dinosaurs?"
Sadly, only ignorance cannot give an ample answer to this question. Take, for instance, the Roman mosaic shown to the right. Dated around the 2nd century A.D., this piece of artwork portrays two large, long-necked animals. No fanciful wings, no multiple heads, no magical, mythical characteristics . . . simply two large creatures that the artist took his time to portray. Trusting that the animals were based upon first-hand experience, and taking into account that the artist deliberately placed them by the sea, it would appear that these were a species of Tanystropheus, an aquatic, webbed dinosaur.[2]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We now move on to a phenomenon which occurred almost 40 years ago. Known as the Ica Stones of Peru, they first came to the attention of the scientific community in 1966 when Dr. Javier Cabrera, a local physician, received a small, carved rock for his birthday from a poor native. The carving on the rock looked ancient to Dr. Cabrera, but intrigued him because it seemed to depict a primitive fish. Hearing that the doctor was interested in the stone, local natives began to bring him more, which they collected from a river bank. This soon developed into a vast collection of more than 50,000 stones, many etched with seemingly impossible scenes. Whereas it might be difficult to prove that the fish represented a long-extinct species, as Dr. Cabrera thought, other scenes carved on other stones are not so ambiguous. They clearly depict such dinosaurs as triceratops, stegosaurus, apatosaurus, and human figures riding on the backs of flying pterodactyls. What’s more, some of the scenes are of men hunting and killing dinosaurs. Others show men watching the heavens through what look like telescopes, performing open-heart surgery, and cesarean section births.
As many ancient civilizations were more advanced then previously thought, telescopes and performed surgeries should not come as a surprise. However, to see dinosaurs etched on these stones does come as a surprise (to many). Again, in all, more than 50,000 stones discovered, varying in size from that of a baseball to as large as a sofa. As a first thought, the mere large number of them indicates that they are indeed genuine 'relics.' However, more proof is needed, and of that, such proof exists.
The stones themselves are composed of andesite, a very hard mineral that would make etching quite difficult with primitive tools. They are covered with a natural varnish that is created by bacteria over thousands of years. The etching is made by scraping away this dark varnish to reveal the lighter mineral beneath. According to some reports, examinations of the stones show that the grooves of the etchings also bear traces of additional varnish, however, indicating that they are very old.
Ica natives had, in fact, been selling such stones to the tourist trade. Interestingly, the natives of the area can still be seen today making etchings on stones in the style of the Ica Stones to sell to tourists. However, the distinction between their product and the “genuine” stones is that the newly etched stones clearly scrape away all of the varnish. In essence, the present-day Ica's cannot make them like the ones found years ago. This, of course, is a very significant fact.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At a museum in Manitou Springs, Colorado, exists an artifact on display that has raised more questions than anything else ever discovered in the area; An Indian prayer stick, roughly a foot long, with a crested head, eyes on both sides, and a mouth. When looked upon by anyone acquainted with "prehistoric reptiles," whether it be the common 4-year old to the respected paleontologist, its identity simply cannot, and will not, be ignored. The artistically and well-defined head of a Pterodactyl stands atop the stick, raising many questions of how they molded the head of a species long extinct, and why they did so. Many legends exist of large "reptilian birds" in the area, and this, as of now, appears to be the only realistic answer.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The portrayal from a Saxon shield discovered years ago reveals the same unmistakable creature. A flying reptile at rest, wings folded along its sides, a long beak, and that full of teeth. Comparison of this with a modern reconstruction of a Pterodactyl or similar animal is most instructive, especially when looking back into Anglo-Saxon history. As late as the beginning of the present century, elderly folk at Penllin in Glamorgan used to tell of a colony of winged serpents that lived in the woods around Penllin Castle. As Marie Trevelyan tells us:
"The woods around Penllin Castle, Glamorgan, had the reputation of being frequented by winged serpents, and these were the terror of old and young alike. An aged inhabitant of Penllyne, who died a few years ago, said that in his boyhood the winged serpents were described as very beautiful. They were coiled when in repose, and 'looked as if they were covered with jewels of all sorts. Some of them had crests sparkling with all the colours of the rainbow.' When disturbed they glided swiftly, 'sparkling all over', to their hiding places. When angry, they 'flew over people's heads, with outspread wings bright, and sometimes with eyes too, like the feathers in a peacock's tail'. He said it was 'no old story invented to frighten children', but a real fact. His father and uncle had killed some of them, for they were as bad as foxes for poultry. The old man attributed the extinction of the winged serpents to the fact that they were 'terrors in the farmyards and coverts'."[3]
This account is intriguing in many respects, not the least being the fact that it is not a typical account of dragons. The creatures concerned were not solitary and monstrous beasts, but small creatures that lived in colonies.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A stone can be seen inside the church of SS. Mary and Hardulph at Breedon-on-the-Hill in Leicestershire . . . a stone with very peculiar, graphic engravings; A portrayal from Saxon times of an attack on a herd of long-necked quadrupeds (four-legged) by a bipedal (two-legged) predator. Note the predator's two large legs and puny forelimbs. This portrayal conforms very closley indeed to the description of Grendel, and is a clear indication that such creatures were to be seen on the British mainland as well as the Continent, as is also shown by Athelstan's and other charters.[3]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In 1902, a group of scientists and workmen dug up part of the wall of a 2,500-year-old city. On that wall was a mystery.
The city was Babylon, which once stood on the banks of the Euphrates River in the Near East, in what is now the nation of Iraq. Babylon was once the capital of the kingdom of Babylonia, one of the world's greatest cities. It was a huge square of houses, temples, and palaces, surrounded by a high wall made of shiny, colored bricks. What scientists discovered and dug up was a part of the wall with a gateway. The gateway was decorated with sculptors of three kinds of animals, arranged in rows. One animal was a lion, while another was a bull. The third, however, was a strange creature such as none of the scientists had ever seen before.
The creature had a scaly body with a long tail and a long snakelike neck. A forked tongue, like the tongue of a snake, stuck out its mouth, and a long horn stuck up from its forehead. Its front legs looked much like the legs and feet of a cat. However, it had scaly back legs, along with clawed feet. Whatever animal this thing was, the portrayer certainly made it clear that it was a reptile. Interestingly, the artists had shown the muscles and skin and hair of the lion and bull so well that those animals looked almost real. And what they showed of this creature, too, looked almost real.
Surprising though it seems, even though the scientists had never seen this creature before, they knew what it was supposed to be, for the king, that is, King Nebuchadnezzar, had left writings that described the decoration. The writings, found and translated, revealed that Nebuchadnezzar had called the creature a Sirrush, which was the Babylonian word for Dragon.[4]
In some versions of the Bible, contained in the last few chapters of Daniel, the Sirrush is made mention of. In fact, it is the subject of a controversial situation. The Sirrush, or dragon, was kept in a temple in Babylon during the days of Nebuchadnezzar. This creature was worshipped as a god, and according to the story, the Hebrew prophet Daniel proved that the creature was not a god by feeding it poisoned food, which eventually killed it.
Whether or not we today regard the Sirrush as a living, breathing animal, King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians did, and it perhaps would be wise for us to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Much more could be written about dinosaurs throughout the history of mankind, and such will be written. For now, consider not only the possibility of dinosaurs alongside man, but moreso, the distinct probability.
References:
1. Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2005 Reference Library Premium (DVD), article: ‘Dragon’.
2. The Great Dinosaur Mystery. Chariot Victor Publishing, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80918. Paul S. Taylor. ©1987.
3. After The Flood. New Wine Press, PO Box 17, Chichester, West Sussex, PO20 6YB, England. Bill Cooper. 1995.
4. Childcraft Annual, Mysteries and Fantasies, World Book Inc., 'What Was the Sirrush of Babylon?', pp. 156-159. 1986.
