More than a pile of bones (Part 1)

IF there's a reason why we like dinosaurs, it's the illustrations. An author wrote that one of the most powerful reasons dinosaurs capture our attention is because of how we must use our imagination when thinking about them. Let's be honest, most of us conceive a flesh and blood creature when we even hear the term. Give it a try... Dinosaurs; what did you imagine? I would say that 4 out of 5 thought in a living animal with skin, muscles, and a wide-open mouth. So interesting is this fact that it has even been recognized by renowned palaeontologists. Such reaction is, to a high degree, due to the contribution popular media has made in how we imagine dinosaurs (sadly, a scientifically inaccurate picture in most cases... and yes, I'm talking about the "velociraptors" of you know what). However, good or bad, these products also arouse great interest in dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures, an interest that, in turn, finances much of the research necessary for us to understand these animals more thoroughly. Thus, to some extent, movies, series, and other visual products play an important role in palaeontology itself.

After such a long (but not unnecessary) paragraph, we get into the main subject: palaeoart. What is palaeoart? I am going to allow myself to quote our beloved Free Encyclopedia to answer that question: "artistic expression that represents topics related to palaeontology, mainly the representation of creatures that are now extinct". Any work—whether painted, drawn, or sculpted—based on scientific discoveries representing extinct animals can be considered palaeoart.

The appearance of this scientific and artistic resource dates back to the very discovery of the dinosaurs, and beyond, progressing side by side with science. So, to know its importance in palaeontology, we must first review the importance of palaeoart from its origins. In order to do so, let´s take a history lesson!

I think it is important to clarify that the term "Palaeoart" is relatively recent, being coined by Mark Hallet, a palaeoartist himself, only in the last century. The word is based on two roots: palaios, from Greek, which means "old" or "ancient" and the most recognized term: artís, from Latin, whose meaning evokes a work or creative expression (for more information consult the referenced articles at the bottom of the post). Bearing this in mind, the joint meaning or idea would be something like "work of the past" or "expression of the old", which defines quite well the idea and mission shared by the authors.

After clarifying the above, we must go back even further. Much has been said about the impact of fossils in the past, it is most likely that the first fossil was found millennia ago, although these remains were clearly not well understood and many times they were interpreted as belonging to some mysterious animal not yet discovered, but still existed on our planet. Currently, it is believed that paintings and tales of dragons, griffons, and other mythological beasts are the product of the discovery of fossils by the cultures that imagined them, clearly, creatures like these invaded the imagination of human beings even long before they were understood correctly.

However, during the seventeenth century, the first scientific interpretations of the fossils began to be given, which of course were accompanied by visual resources. Perhaps the best-known case is that recorded in The Natural History of Oxfordshire, a scientific publication dating from 1677, where the author, Robert Plot, illustrated a strange bone fragment found in England. Much was speculated as to the origin of this object, which was part of the femur of a huge animal. Some of the theories were that the bone, later named Scrotum humanum by Richard Brookes, belonged to an elephant and even a gigantic human. The publication of the find was accompanied by a drawing of the bone, which is considered the first scientific illustration related to a fossil, at least the first of which there is a record.

But in order to get to true reconstructions of prehistory, we must advance until nineteenth century, and remember one of the most important personalities in palaeontology: Mary Anning. Anning was a British fossil collector from a poor family. One of her most notable discoveries is the first skeleton of Ichthyosaurus, as well as many other fossils in the cliffs of Lyme Regis, England. Anning's discoveries caused a stir in those days, and scientists wondered what those remains were. Scientists most certainly began diagramming the fossils almost immediately, however, it was not until 1830 that the first artistic representation came to light, by geologist Henry De La Beche, who was based on Anning's fossils (meaning, based on fossil evidence). That reconstruction, originally painted in watercolor, is known as Duria Antiquior, a Latin name meaning "An Older Dorset", and is currently housed at the Cardiff National Museum.

I don't know about you, but it seems a beautiful work to me, quite old-fashioned, of course, but beautiful. Clearly, De La Beche did a lot with what he had in rebuilding the prehistoric ecosystem he envisioned, and the creatures that inhabited it. However, this work would be far from the last... very, very far in fact. From this point on, many other palaeoartists emerged to bring the extinct back to life. Just a few years before Duria Antiquior was made, Gideon Mantell and his wife, Mary Ann —for some reason Mary was a very recurring name—, were involved in an important find, just 236 kilometers from where Anning used to look for fossils.

Although the exact circumstances are not very clear, the truth is that Gideon Mantell had before himself one of the most important discoveries of his time, whose significance continues to this day. The teeth, later named Iguanodon (or "iguana tooth"), would only be the beginning of a wave of discoveries, all accompanied by reconstructions and first visual notions of the animals that emerged from the rock. All these discoveries would give way to the establishment of the order Dinosauria by Richard Owen (of whom we will speak on another occasion), and to a series of first paleo-artistic pieces that tried to represent how these animals looked in life.

With the continuous advance of discoveries, palaeoart also did— little by little—moving from paper to other visual media. Characters like the aforementioned Richard Owen became very relevant on the scene. It was Owen who collaborated as a consultant for the sculptures of various life-size prehistoric creatures built by the infamous Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, including some models of Iguanodon and Megalosaurus, which represented these animals according to the vision of dinosaurs that was held at that time: huge, sluggish reptiles with elephantine feet.

Hawkins' works were exhibited at the Crystal Palace of London in 1854 and helped popularize dinosaurs among the general public. A somewhat well-known anecdote is the occasion when Hawkins offered a dinner in one of the molds. Although their popularity declined over the years, these statues continue at the Crystal Palace Park, where they remain standing until the day this post is written; they are a glimpse into palaeoart's historical past.

At this point in our history, some 30 years after Mantell's finding, one of the greatest leaps in understanding prehistoric ecology (for dinosaurs mostly) was made in North America. One of the most influential discoveries on the north was Hadrosaurus foulkii, described by Joseph Leidy in 1858. The importance of this discovery lies in the remains found, which included a large part of the animal's hind limbs. Why would this be important? Well, it was that relatively set of bones that allowed Leidy to get very close in her assumptions of what these animals must have looked like in life. The bony parts suggested an essential characteristic: the bipedal posture.

Comparing his Hadrosaurus with the remains of Iguanodon, Leidy noted certain similarities and rightly theorized that they must be related, which in turn revealed that the latter had been wrongly reconstructed. A great change! Dinosaurs went from being scaly elephants to bipedal beings with long hind limbs and short arms, whose appearance, according to many palaeontologists, more closely resembled that of a kangaroo, with its tail trailing after the animal.

Sure, Leidy's reconstructions still had a lot to improve, based on current knowledge, but this was certainly a significant advance for palaeoart. The skeletons mounted at The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (now known as The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University) were of great impact to the American public, as had the Hawkins models in London; and they again aroused great interest in the subject of dinosaurs.

But Iguanodon was not left behind. In 1878, while some men were working in a mine in Bernissart, Belgium, some 38 well-preserved skeletons of Iguanodon were discovered, thanks to which the image of these animals and the whole Dinosauria was completely reimagined. Joseph Leidy had contributed quite a bit with his Hadrosaurus, but Bernissart's fossils were clearly determinative. Many of the inaccuracies of the Crystal Palace models came to light, such as the "horn" on the Iguanodon nose, which turned out to be a spike on its thumb, a not very appropriate posture, as was the shape of the skull, among others. Of course, the reconstructions were not long in coming.

While Bernissart's iguanodons revolutionized from Europe, America followed the same footsteps. It is here where two very important names, both for palaeoart, and for palaeontology in general, come to light: Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh. For those who are already familiar with the subject, surely the names will sound familiar, for those who are not, well... we will talk about that another time. Truth is that Marsh and Cope unleashed an event known as "The Bone Wars". How dramatic, isn't it? Well, as a result of this rivalry between the two palaeontologists, a series of discoveries arose. In less than 2 decades, some 120 new genera of dinosaurs were added to the lists—although I must note many are currently considered invalid—. So, as has been obvious from this story, the more bones, the more palaeoart... although not always totally accurate.

However, at this time different revolutionary palaeoartists also emerged, whose footprints formed the path during the following decades. One of them, perhaps the best known to all of us, was the man whose photo introduces this post: Charles Robert Knight. Knight's artistic and scientific contribution was extremely important. Already at the end of the 19th century, his works expressed many of the principles that an important episode of science would suggest regarding the nature of dinosaurs decades later, who, far from being the clumsy reptiles previously conceived, turned out to be incredibly dynamic creatures.

And Charles Knight was not the only one contributing to palaeoart at that time. Many other magnificent illustrators also established important parameters. For example, Zděnek Burian was characterized by a surprising naturalness in his works, which not only represented dinosaurs but a wide range of prehistoric creatures. Burian's art pieces are quite spontaneous and reflected very well the scientific notions that were used then.

Since then, scientists began to understand the great variety in dinosaurs, and this in turn influenced the reconstructions that were made of these animals. However, one of the problems that remained was the interpretation of these as slow creatures, lethargic reptiles with little mobility and confined to swamps and wetlands. For the most part, scientists viewed these animals as flaws in the earth's natural history, creatures doomed to extinction due to their supposed morphological disabilities. Unfortunately, this point of view was maintained for much of the twentieth century and was reflected in the palaeo-artistic works of those years. However... that was about to change, and here we enter into my favorite part of this story...

Be aware next week for "More than a pile of bones (Part 2)"!