Chapter 4 – History of Dinosaur Studies
Introduction
Current Dinosaur Renaissance
Started in the early 1970’s
First Dinosaur Renaissance
Started in the early1800’s
Coincided with the development of paleontology as a science
Dinosaur Studies before the “Renaissance”
Early recognition of Dinosaur Fossils
China –
reference to “dragon bones” about 300 B.C.E.
Central Asia –
legend of the griffin may be based on Protoceratops
North America – Indians living
in western areas underlain by Mesozoic sedimentary rocks explained dinosaur
bones as the remains of former animals
SW Africa –
cave paintings of animals making dinosaur tracks
Early Scientific Studies of Dinosaurs:
The Europeans
Recognition that fossils were the remains of
former organisms (but not
dinosaurs!)
Leonardo da Vinci, Nicholas Steno,
Robert Hooke
Robert Plot – probable first description
and illustration of a dinosaur bone in 1677 (specimen is lost and can’t
be confirmed as dinosaur bone)
Thought it was from an elephant,
probably was Megalosaurus
Referred to as Scrotum humanum by Richard Brookes in 1763
John Woodward –first cataloguing
of a dinosaur bone in 1728
Subsequent investigation shows that it probably is a bone from Megalosaurus
Georges Cuvier
First to recognize extinction of organisms;
co-developer of principle of biologic succession
Reverend William Buckland
First (1824) scientific description of a
dinosaur (theropoda) – Megalosaurus - based on a lower jaw with teeth found in 1815
An instructor to Charles Lyell
Weird guy
Gideon Algernon Mantell
Second (1825) scientific description of a
dinosaur (0rnithopoda) – Iguanodon - based on teeth and a few bones found in 1822
Also described (1833) an anklosaur - Hylaeosaurus
Anecdotally Mary Ann Mantell actually found the
Iguanodon fossils, but this
seems unlikely
Sir Richard Owen
Invented the term dinosauria in 1842 for
Megalosaurus, Iguanodon and Hylaeosaurus
Neglected to include Cetiosaurus, Poekilopleuron and Thecodontosaurus
Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins
Prominent Victorian artist working with Owen
Reconstructed dinosaurs as large, heavy-set
quadrupeds
Interesting notes concerning French
and German dinosaur discoveries
First dinosaur eggshell fragments described and
associated with dinosaur skeletal material by various French paleontologists in
the mid-1800’s
Plateosaurus, a prosauropod, was discovered and
named in 1837 by Christian von Meyer
Thomas Henry Huxley
Most vigorous defender of Darwin
First to note the links between dinosaurs and
birds
Harry Govier Seeley
Divided Dinosauria into Saurischia and
Ornithischia based on hip structure
Argued that Dinosauria was polyphyletic, not monophyletic; that is, Dinosauria was not a clade
Louis Antoine Marie Joseph Dollo
Studied 39 Iguanodon skeletons recovered from a coal mine in Bernissart,
Belgium
Clearly demonstrated that Iguanodon was bipedal and that the spike placed by
Mantell on the nose actually was its thumb
Early Scientific Studies of Dinosaurs:
The North Americans
Reverend Edward Hitchcock
Interpreted dinosaur tracks in the
Connecticut River valley as those of large, prehistoric birds beginning in 1836
First to describe dinosaur coprolites (fossil
feces), which he also attributed to birds
Helped develop the field of ichnology, the
study of trace fossils
Joseph Leidy
Premier American paleontologist in the
middle 1800’s
First to describe any dinosaur as
bipedal, namely Hadrosaurus
Pointed out that it was likely a facultative quadruped, that is, it would have walked on all fours if necessary
Described Troodon based on teeth only
Edward Drinker cope and Othniel Charles
Marsh
Premier American paleontologists in
the late 1800’s
“Bitter Rivals”
Cope was a protégé of
Leidy and was associated with the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia
Impressive contributions to the study of reptiles and amphibians
Marsh was a professor at Yale,
Vertebrate Paleontologist of the USGS and President of the National Academy of
Science
His rich uncle George Peabody built the Yale-Peabody Museum of Natural History for him
Named over 100 dinosaur species
between them during the 20-year long “Great Dinosaur Rush”
including:
Stegosaurus, Diplodocus, Apatosaurus, Allosaurus, Ceratosaurus, Triceratops and Camptosaurus
Many came from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation
Sternberg Family
Father and three sons found lots of
dinosaur bones in Canada in the first half of the 1900’s, particulary in
Cretaceous strata exposed along the Red Deer River in Alberta, which became Dinosaur
Provincial Park, and home of the Royal Tyrell Museum of Paleontology
Found the first dinosaur mummies with
preserved skin impressions
Finds included: Prosaurolophus, Chasmosaurus, Styracosaurus and Gorgosaurus
Henry Fairfield Osborn
Protégé of Cope
President of the American Museum of
Natural History in the early 1900’s
Sent out many fossil collecting expeditions, including the Central Asian Expeditions to the Gobi Desert in the 1920’s
Barnum Brown
Protégé of Osborn
Discoverer of Tyrannosaurus rex in the Upper Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation
of Montana in 1902
First
paleontologist to discuss gastroliths in 1907
Other finds included: Corythosaurus, Monoclonius, Leptoceratops and Struthiomimus
John Bell Hatcher
Protégé of Marsh;
discovered numerous ceratopsian skeletons, many with skulls
George Mercer Dawson, Joseph Burr Tyrell,
Lawrence M. Lambe
Prominent Canadian paleontologists
Scientific Studies of Dinosaurs in the
First Half of the 20th Century
Marked by the deaths of Cope and Marsh in
the late 1890’s
Many paleontologists prominent in the first
half of the 20th century began their careers in the late
1800’s, including Barnum Brown and the Sternbergs
Earl Douglass
Discovered site now Dinosaur National
Monument in Utah and Colorado
Quarried site for 13 years using
dynamite
Specimens sent to the Carnegie Museum
of Natural History in Pittsburgh
Finds included: Allosaurus, Apatosaurus, Diplodocus, Stegosaurus and a juvenile Camarasaurus
Tendaguru, Tanzania
Prolific Late Jurassic dinosaur site
Werner Janensch directed most of the
work at the site prior to WWI
Kentrosaurus, a new species of stegosaur, was discovered
there, along with Barosaurus
and Brachiosaurus
Howe and Cleveland-Lloyd Quarries
Prolific Late Jurassic dinosaur sites in
Wyoming and Utah
Howe Quarry first to mapped in great
detail
Cleveland-Lloyd Quarry has a high
concentration of Allosaurus
Roland T. Bird
Protégé of Barnum Brown
Most famous for work with dinosaur
tracks, in particular those found in 1939 in Glen Rose, Texas, in Lower
Cretaceous rocks exposed along the Paluxy River
Mapped the Howe Quarry early in his
career
Friedrich von Huene
Prominent dinosaur taxonomist
Worked extensively with dinosaurs from
the Late Triassic
Roy Chapman Andrews
Led Central Asian Expeditions to the
Gobi Desert in the 1920’s
Discovered first confirmed dinosaur
nests with eggs
Finds included: Velociraptor, Oviraptor, Protoceratops and Psittacosaurus
Russian and Polish paleontologists
mounted Mongolian expeditions in the 1940’s and 1960’s
American paleontologists from the
American Museum of Natural History showed that the nests discovered during the
1920’ actually belonged to Oviraptor
C. C. Young (Yang Zhong-jian)
Prominent Chinese paleontogist
Dinosaur Studies of the Recent Past:
The Beginnings of a Renaissance and a New Legacy
The Latter Half of the 20th Century
and Globalization of Dinosaur Studies
Edwin C. Colbert
Discovered prolific site of the Late Triassic
dinosaur, Coelophysis, at
Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, in 1947
Found evidence
of cannibalism
John Ostrom
Credited with sparking the “Dinosaur
Renaissance” by his work with the Early Cretaceous dinosaur, Deinonychus, first reported in 1969
Argued that some dinosaurs were more active and
birdlike in their behavior than reptilian
José F. Bonaparte
Premier South American paleontologist, who
discovered Argentinosaurus
and Abelisaurus
Bob Bakker, Jack Horner, Paul Sereno, Martin
Lockley, Phil Currie, Altangeral Perle, Tony Thulborn, Anusuya Chimsamy and
Armand de Ricqlés