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Hercules battling the “Monster of Troy” depicted on a Greek crater dated at 550 B.C. Early cultural perceptions of fossil remains. Siberian Pazyryk Carpet (approx. 2,350 years old). Entire carpet 6’ x 6’ detail of griffin
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Hercules battling the “Monster of Troy” depicted on a Greek crater dated at 550 B.C. Early cultural perceptions of fossil remains
Siberian Pazyryk Carpet (approx. 2,350 years old) Entire carpet 6’ x 6’ detail of griffin from border
Left:Protoceratops reconstruction compared to griffinBelow:Scythian Tattoos
Giraffokeryx and Sivatherium both could easily be misinterpreted as dragons
Early “Fossil” Collections • Georgius Agricola – 1494-1555 - De Natura Fossilium • Conrad Gesner – 1516-1565 - De Rerum Fossilium
Nicolaus Steno1638-1686 • Original Horizontality • Original Lateral Continuity • Superposition • (also principles of inclusion and crosscutting)
James Hutton (1726-1797) and the beginnings of Uniformitarianism
Baron Georges Leopold Cretien Frederic Dagobert Cuvier1769-1832; prominent catastrophist
William “Strata” Smith1769-1839: canal engineer, first stratigrapher
Sir Charles Lyell1797-1875 • Championed Uniformitarianism • Darwin’s mentor • Proposed “Great Cycles” to preserve Uniformitarianism in the face of evidence of directionalism • Named Eocene, Miocene, Pliocene, based on “Lyellian Curves”
Why Paleontology? • Biostratigraphy • Evolutionary Theory • Paleoecology • Paleogeography • Interest