Dinosaurs and Other Extinct Saurians: a Historical Perspective – Introduction
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Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 26, 2021 Dinosaurs and other extinct saurians: a historical perspective – introduction RICHARD T. J. MOODY1*, ERIC BUFFETAUT2, DARREN NAISH3 & DAVID M. MARTILL3 1Faculty of Science, Kingston University, Penrhyn Road, Kingston KT1 2EE, UK 2Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR 8538, Laboratoire de Ge´ologie de l’Ecole Normale Supe´rieure, 24 rue Lhomond, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France 3School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Burnaby Building, Burnaby Road, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO1 3QL, UK *Corresponding author (e-mail: [email protected]) The discovery of dinosaurs and other large extinct role of collections – and therefore collectors – in ‘saurians’, a term under which the Victorians com- the early development of vertebrate palaeontology. monly lumped ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, pterosaurs Although the emphasis is on Britain, examples and their kin, makes exciting reading. The story of from The Netherlands and France are also men- how early ‘fossilists’ first found the remains of tioned, all showing how the growth of large collec- these ‘primeval monsters’ has been told again and tions, which sooner or later found their way into again in popular and semi-popular books about the museums, was vital for comparative studies and, history of palaeontology. Mary Anning making a therefore, for our understanding of various groups living by collecting extinct reptiles along the of fossil reptiles. Torrens tells the sad story of Dorset coast, William Buckland and Gideon William Perceval Hunter, a much forgotten natural- Mantell finding the ‘terrible lizards’ for which ist who, among many other pursuits, studied the Richard Owen was to coin the word ‘Dinosauria’, geology of the Isle of Wight and the large reptiles O. C. Marsh and E. D. Cope fighting over new of the local Wealden, before he ended his life in a fossil vertebrates in the American West – all of lunatic asylum. Noe` & Liston provide new infor- these well-known stories have almost achieved the mation about the life and work of Alfred Leeds, status of legends, and have often been retold with one of the most famous collectors of fossil reptiles little regard for historical or scientific accuracy. in Britain, whose superb specimens from the The purpose of the present volume is not to retell Oxford Clay of the Peterborough area can be seen these tales. The papers in this collection focus on in many museums in England, Scotland and else- relatively little-known episodes in the discovery where. Fanti recalls the role of the sponsored and interpretation (from both a scientific and an or affluent intelligensia in the development of artistic point of view) of dinosaurs and other Meso- geology and vertebrate palaeontology as significant zoic animals. They cover a long time span, from the sciences in the late nineteenth century with an beginnings of scientific palaeontology to the outline of the curatorial, scientific and inspirational present, and deal with many parts of the world, teaching skills of Italian Giovanni Capellini. from the Yorkshire coast to central India, from Moody & Naish provide a brief biography of Bavaria to the Sahara. The characters in these Alan Charig, who in many ways personified stories include professional palaeontologists and British research on dinosaurs during the second geologists (some of them well known, others more half of the twentieth century by both publishing sig- obscure), explorers, amateur fossil collectors and nificant scientific contributions and reaching out to artists, linked together by their interest in Mesozoic the general public through popular books and televi- creatures. The papers are diverse in their scope and sion programmes. Although many of the scientists approach, some dealing with a particular researcher who discovered and studied extinct reptiles were or artist, others with a well defined group of fossil men, the contribution of women should not be organisms or the development of a scientific ignored, as revealed by Turner et al. Mary concept, others with a fossil locality or a region. Anning has attained an almost iconic status, but A first group of papers concerns collections, those she was also the first of a long series of women who brought them together and those who studied working on fossil reptiles, some of whom, like and curated them. Evans focuses on the important Tilly Edinger, achieved prominence in their field, From:Moody, R. T. J., Buffetaut, E., Naish,D.&Martill, D. M. (eds) Dinosaurs and Other Extinct Saurians: A Historical Perspective. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 343, 1–3. DOI: 10.1144/SP343.1 0305-8719/10/$15.00 # The Geological Society of London 2010. Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 26, 2021 2 R. T. J. MOODY ET AL. while others remained obscure despite their to recognize the existence of pneumaticity in dino- contributions. saur bones and to speculate about its meaning. Quite a few of these collectors were pioneers in Among the many controversies surrounding their field, who broke new ground by discovering dinosaurs, one of the longest-enduring debates has the remains of dinosaurs and other Mesozoic rep- been that about the origin of birds. Wellnhofer sum- tiles in regions that had been hitherto virtually marizes the many questions and interpretations untouched by palaeontologists. One of them is raised by the ‘primeval bird’ Archaeopteryx, with Wilhelm (also known as Guillermo) Schulz. its mixture of avian and reptilian characters, from Pereda Suberbiola et al. provide a biographical the initial discoveries in the mid-nineteenth essay on this German mining geologist who spent century to the present day. Switek discusses a most of his working life in Spain in the mid- directly related and important episode in the nineteenth century, and is mostly remembered for history of evolutionary palaeontology, viz. the rec- his successful search for mineral resources, but ognition of the close relationship between birds was also the first to report Mesozoic reptiles from and dinosaurs, with a detailed examination of that country. In a more exotic setting, Carrano Huxley’s contribution to the question and how it et al. tell the often adventurous story of the discov- developed through time. The paper by Hansen ery of dinosaurs in what was then British India, from deals with the controversy about the identification the first finds by Sleeman in 1828 (only a few years of the digits in theropod dinosaurs and birds. He after the epoch-making discoveries by Buckland shows how conflicting interpretations were of con- and Mantell in England) to Matley’s extensive col- siderable importance for the whole question of lecting efforts between 1917 and 1933, as a result of avian origins and for the now widely accepted which much is now known about the Late Cretac- idea that dinosaurs were ancestral to birds. eous dinosaur fauna of India. In some instances, it Ever since the first discoveries of skeletons of turns out that discoveries of spectacular dinosaur these flying reptiles, pterosaurs have been the specimens had been preceded by more obscure focus of much attention on the part of palaeontolo- finds that attracted little attention. In this vein, gists. O¨ si et al. both revise pterosaur specimens in Buffetaut shows how remains of spinosaurid thero- Hungarian institutions and reconstruct their eventful pods were discovered well before Ernst Stromer first histories, which in some cases goes back a long described Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, from the Cre- time, one of them having been part of the collection taceous of Egypt, in 1915. Teeth of these unusual of Archduchess Maria Anna in the second half of the dinosaurs were described as early as the 1820s by eighteenth century. Martill deals with discoveries Mantell and Cuvier, but because of their peculiar of pterosaurs in England, which began in the early morphology they were mistaken for crocodile nineteenth century, and shows how their recognition teeth, a misinterpretation shared by later researchers was hampered by various misconceptions, although such as Owen and Sauvage. such renowned palaeontologists as Buckland, While the history of research on extinct ‘saur- Mantell, Owen and Seeley were involved. Witton ians’ contains many instances of outstanding dis- concentrates on the discovery of giant pterosaurs, coveries made by individual scientists, in many which was initiated in England but really began cases significant advances have been the result of with Marsh’s find of Pteranodon in Kansas in the efforts of a succession of dedicated researchers 1870. Huge as it was, Pteranodon eventually lost over longer periods of time. This is ably illustrated its title of largest flying creature when even larger by Whyte et al. on the discovery of dinosaur pterosaurs were found in the second half of the remains in the Jurassic of the Yorkshire coast. The twentieth century. story, which began in the early nineteenth century Beyond scientific descriptions and interpret- and is still going on today, has taken a new turn ations, dinosaurs and other extinct saurians have with the discovery of abundant footprints that had also inspired artists, as illustrated by the last two largely escaped the attention of earlier researchers. papers in the volume. Le Loeuff depicts the life Fossil footprints are also the topic of the paper by and work of Mathurin Me´heut, a twentieth century Bowden et al. about Chirotherium, an ichnite that painter whose art found wide recognition in his long remained a mystery, but attracted the attention native Brittany. His reconstructions of prehistoric of a group of dedicated ‘footprint hunters’ based in animals, including dinosaurs, ichthyosaurs and Liverpool, who not only tried to identify the track pterosaurs produced for the Institute of Geology of maker but also attempted to reconstruct the environ- the University of Rennes in the 1940s during the ment in which these tracks were made. Naish German occupation of France, are an aspect of his shows how dinosaur discoveries in the Wealden of work that deserves to be better known as an England during the nineteenth century gradually unusual example of palaeontological art.