Author's personal copy Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association 123 (2012) 766–778 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association jo urnal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/pgeola Naming the Bristol dinosaur, Thecodontosaurus: politics and science in the 1830s Michael J. Benton School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1RJ, UK A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T Article history: Several dinosaurs were reported from 1824 to 1842, the latter being the year in which Richard Owen Received 28 March 2012 named the ‘Dinosauria’. The fourth dinosaur ever named was Thecodontosaurus, based on numerous Received in revised form 5 July 2012 isolated bones from Late Triassic cave deposits, excavated in 1834 from a working limestone quarry in Accepted 14 July 2012 Bristol in south-west England. The genus was named in 1836, and it was the first dinosaur ever reported Available online 4 August 2012 from the Triassic. The remains were shown first to Samuel Stutchbury, curator of the museum of the Bristol Institution. He recruited the noted Bristol surgeon and anatomist Henry Riley to assist in Keywords: interpreting the bones, but local amateur geologist, the Reverend David Williams, was competing to be Dinosaur the first to report the fossils. The squabble between Stutchbury and Williams is reconstructed from Triassic Bristol manuscript letters, and it highlights the clash between individuals, but also between supposed Samuel Stutchbury professionals and amateurs in these early days of the development of geology and palaeontology as Henry Riley sciences. David Williams ß 2012 The Geologists’ Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction be named from the Triassic was Plateosaurus, reported a year later, in 1837, from southern Germany (Meyer, 1837). The circumstances of the discovery and naming of the first The importance of the specimens, the shortage of previously dinosaurs ever reported, Megalosaurus Buckland, 1824, Iguanodon published information about their discovery, and the emergence of Mantell, 1825, and Hylaeosaurus Mantell, 1833, have been outlined some fascinating new archival resources, provide the purpose for by several authors (e.g. Spokes, 1927; Curwen, 1940; Swinton, this account. 1951; Colbert, 1968; Delair and Sarjeant, 1975; Taquet, 1984; Relevant archives in the Bristol Record Office, B Bond, Smeaton Buffetaut, 1987; Torrens, 1992, 1995; Torrens, 2012). The fourth Road, Bristol, BS1 6XN (BRO), the Geology Department, City 1 dinosaur to be named from England, and perhaps from the world, Museum & Art Gallery, Queens Road, Bristol, BS8 1RL (BRSMG), the Thecodontosaurus antiquus Riley and Stutchbury, 1836, has largely Reference Library, Central Library, Bristol, College Green, Bristol, escaped historical notice, however. It was the first dinosaur to be BS1 5TL (CRL), and Somerset Heritage Service, Somerset Heritage reported from the Triassic period, the earliest division of the Centre, Brunel Way, Norton Fitzwarren, Taunton, Somerset, TA2 Mesozoic Era, during which dinosaurs originated, and it has 6SF (TTNCM), provided documents relevant to the discovery and subsequently been shown to be one of the most basal sauropo- later history of work on Thecodontosaurus. domorph dinosaurs, one of the three major divisions of Dinosauria (Huxley, 1870; Marsh, 1892; Seeley, 1895; Huene, 1908a; 2. The location Gauthier, 1986; Galton, 1990; Benton et al., 2000; Benton, 2004; Langer and Benton, 2006). The first relatively complete dinosaur to Specimens of ‘saurian animals’ were first noted in autumn, 1834 from the limestone quarries of Durdham Down, Clifton. At that time, Clifton, located in the county of Somerset, was a separate E-mail address: [email protected]. town from Bristol, which was part of Gloucestershire. However, the 1 Determining the order of naming of the first dinosaurs is a retrospective two towns adjoined, and Clifton was formally incorporated into the exercise in several senses. First, these reptiles were identified merely as ‘giant city of Bristol in the 1830s. lizards’ or crocodiles in the 1820s and 1830s. Second, even after Owen had named These quarries are now largely infilled or built over, and there the Dinosauria in 1842 for Megalosaurus, Iguanodon, and Hylaeosaurus, Thecodon- tosaurus was not included. It was recognized as dinosaurian only in 1870 (Huxley, has been some confusion over their exact location, and the location 1870). Streptospondylus Meyer, 1832 from France was described as a crocodile, but of the dinosaur finds (Fig. 1). The first indication of the site is given includes some dinosaurian vertebrae (Allain, 2001) and so might be a valid as ‘the quarry east of Durdham Down’ by Anon. (1835). dinosaurian name. Macrodontophion Zborzewski, 1834 from the Ukraine was Information in papers by Etheridge (1870) and Moore (1881) sometimes called a dinosaur too, but is based on an unidentifiable tooth. So, if Streptospondylus is a valid dinosaur, then Thecodontosaurus becomes the fifth allowed David Whiteside in 1982 to confirm this and identify the dinosaur to be named from anywhere in the world. site at the east end of a series of old quarries, and located beside a 0016-7878/$ – see front matter ß 2012 The Geologists’ Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pgeola.2012.07.012 Author's personal copy M.J. Benton / Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association 123 (2012) 766–778 767 Fig. 1. Map of north Clifton and the Downs, Bristol, showing five suggested locations of the Thecodontosaurus find in 1834, numbered 1–5. The key map (top left) shows the distribution of Triassic exposures in England and Wales, and the locations of Bristol and London. The correct find spot is number 1. set of steps called Quarry Steps (Fig. 1; National Grid Reference, ST the site of the reptilian quarry on the eastern side of Durdham 572747; Benton and Spencer, 1995, p. 89). Etheridge (1870, Figs. 4, Down.’’ Moore (1881, p. 72) confirmed this, mentioning specifi- 5) gave two drawings showing the reptile deposit at about 320 ft cally a place known as ‘The Quarry and The Quarry Steps’ and states above mean sea level and noted (Etheridge, 1870, p. 188) that ‘‘the ‘‘Looking from it [the platform of Quarry Steps], along the Down spot where these remains were found is no longer recognizable or escarpment to the west, the eye takes in Bellevue Terrace determinable, having been many years ago quarried away, and the [=‘Belgrave Terrace’; numbers 19–23 Upper Belgrave Road], on site built upon. Fortunately, we have records of the exact position; the edge of the Down; and it was between these houses and the and many years since, W. Sanders . most accurately determined quarry, a distance probably of 200 yards, along the same face of Author's personal copy 768 M.J. Benton / Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association 123 (2012) 766–778 limestone, and on the same horizon, that the deposit containing The site of discovery of Thecodontosaurus, according to the the Thecodontosaurian remains was found. Unfortunately the testimony of Etheridge (1870) and Moore (1881) may still be seen, precise spot is unknown . and built over’’. This is only partly true, largely overgrown, forming a cliff behind a block of flats, and with as Etheridge (1870) had first-hand evidence from people who had an old set of stone steps (Quarry Steps) descending beside it. The witnessed the discoveries. First, he relied on testimony from topotype quarry contains at least one fissure with a lithology William Sanders (1799–1875), a keen amateur geologist who lived similar to that of the bone-bearing matrix, but all bones appear to in Clifton, and who from 1835 onwards produced a detailed have been quarried away. geological map of the whole area (Clark, 2004). Further, Etheridge Some confusion might arise from the slightly later discovery of a (1870, Fig. 6) was also able to reproduce a sketch he had been given bone-bearing fissure on Durdham Down, but this time a Pleistocene years before by Samuel Stutchbury, showing the position of the fissure containing fragmentary bones of ice age mammals, found bones in the cave breccia as they were being removed. early in 1842, and in which David Williams took an interest. He had Huene (1908a, p. 191) seemingly misunderstood Moore, begun his geological career in the 1820s with studies on the famous naming the site of discovery as Avenue Quarry at the end of Mendips bone caves at Banwell, Holwell, Bleadon, and Uphill. Avenue Road, but Moore (1881) had identified this Avenue Quarry However, Stutchbury and Riley carried out the excavations at as distinct from the Thecodontosaurus find site just noted, as a Durdham Down and specimens of rhinoceros, elephant, horse, location 680 yards away from Quarry Steps and terminating a hyaena, and bear were extracted for the Museum (Stutchbury, 1842; transect of workings that hosted fissures of different ages. Further, Wilson, 1886, 1890). The exact location of the fissure is unknown, Perceval (1907, p. 5) suggested a third possible location for the but it seems to have been in a quarry on the south side of Stoke Road, 1834 Thecodontosaurus discovery: ‘‘The exposure of rock from at map ref. ST 567752; the fauna indicates an Ipswichian age which they were obtained used to be visible on the west side at the (Hawkins and Tratman, 1977). south end of Worrall Road. This exposure is represented in the maps that accompanied Wright’s Bristol Directories of the years 3. The experts 1870–1874. At p. 111 of Arrowsmith’s Dictionary of Bristol, 1884, the locality is thus described: ‘Reptilian remains were found some The saurian bones found by the quarrymen apparently became years ago in a dike of new red conglomerate, near Lower Belgrave quite widely known among naturalists in Bristol, and some were Road Durdham Down.’ The exposure in Worrall Road is no longer brought to the Bristol Institution, where Samuel Stutchbury was visible, having apparently been built over.’’ This is the further, curator from 1831 to 1850.