Giant Lizards: A Brief History of Early Dinosaur Reconstruction

Abstract

Although they have been extinct for more than 60 million years, dinosaurs are a familiar part of our culture. Featured regularly in entertainment, advertising and the news, they are recognized more readily in today's society than many living animals. Dinosaurs also function as a powerful educational tool, stimulating the interest of children and adults in the natural world. Moreover, they serve as a primary symbol of evolution, extinction and the long history of life on Earth. Yet, few people realize how radically our understanding of dinosaurs has changed since their discovery 170 years ago.The initial recognition of dinosaurs as a distinct group of extinct animals was one of the major accomplishments of nineteenth century science. When first discovered, dinosaurs were an unexpected and almost alien life form whose interpretation was inhibited by a scarcity of good fossils and absence of close living relatives. For this reason, early nineteenth century dinosaur reconstructions, which were later ridiculed for their inaccuracies, may seem simplistic and conservative. In reality, they were quite innovative. Examination of this early work reveals just how profound these ideas actually were in light of the limited evidence available and demonstrates how interpretations changed as new fossil discoveries were made.