The story of the dinosaurs in 25 discoveries / История динозавров в 25 открытиях

For centuries, people had picked up huge bones in the ground and puzzled over their origins. In some parts of the world, they were thought to be the remains of legendary dragons, sea monsters, or Cyclopes. On the Greek island of Samos, the numerous large bones were thought to be the remains of Amazon warrior women who had died in battle. (We now know they are the remains of elephants, giraffes, antelopes, cattle, hyenas, and other mammals that were abundantly fossilized there.) The red color of the rocks was thought to be bloodstains (the color actually comes from the rusty iron oxides in the rocks). Some people have argued that the striking fossils of Protoceratops found in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia were the source of the myth of griffins, which had a lion’s head and wings; the frill covering part of the neck reminded the ancients of wings (chapter 24). Large bones of dinosaurs, marine reptiles, and large mammals have been known since prehistoric times, and they have been explained by whatever mythology was prevalent among the peoples who found them. <...>