Did Fossil Tree Bark Inspire Dragon Stories?

Every kid loves stories about dragons.  And there have been stories for thousands of years, all over the world.  It has long been assumed that these stories were inspired and sustained by fossils of ancient megafauna.  In the absence of accurate (or any) dating, and no clear idea of extinct ecosystems, reconstructing these beasts required imagination.

For the last twenty years, Adrienne Mayor has argued that commonly found dinosaur fossils were the basis for imagined beasts in Greek and Roman stories [1].  Similar cases can be found in many parts of the world.  These reconstructions naturally were strongly influenced by local traditions, resulting in a diversity of details, and even conflicting interpretations of what we now recognize to be individuals of the same species.

This winter researchers at Roanoke College discuss another possible facet of ithis story making:  fossilized tree remains [2].  Lepidodendron was very common 300 years ago in the Carboniferous Period, and its remains have a very distinct scale-like appearance.  As suggested by the period, these fossils are widely found in and near coal seams.  They would be known to people everywhere.

“The hypothesis is that early humans came across these fossils, constructed meaning for them contextualized by current knowledge of the natural world and created or enhanced dragon lore narratives.” ([2], p. 50)

Poi and Stoneman point out that these fossils not only resemble reptile skin, they are the size of tree trunks:  they resemble the skin of a very large reptile or fish.  This, they suggest, inspired the external appearance of dragons that might otherwise known only from fossil skeletons or footprints.

The researchers collected records of Lepidodendron fossils and the origins of stories that describe dragons.  The data aligns fairly well, consistent with the hypothesis that easily spotted fossil tree remains were interpreted as dragon’s skin.

They also note that the remains are often black and charred looking (lying as they do in coal beds).  This suggests an association with fire and fumes. In short, these common fossils may have strongly influenced the description of dragons in folk stories.

It is important to note that this isn’t the sole “source” of dragon stories.  For one thing, there are parts of the world that have stories of dragons or similar animals, where there are no easily visible Carboniferous trees.

It is also true that stories travel and combine. Tales of dragons no doubt were told, and possibly modified, in places with no local fossils.  In many places, similar tales were combined in a single story, creating a consensus view from many sources.

And, of course, story-telling is motivated by much more than folk scientific explanations.  Tales of dragons reflect cultural values, metaphor, and just plain story telling.  Many aspects of dragon lore are about morality and magic, and all that these deep cultural concepts involve.

But the idea that these fossils influenced very common and widely held aspects of these stories is an interesting hypothesis, and to my mind, plausible.

Cool!

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1. Adrienne Mayor, The First Fossil Hunters: Dinosaurs, Mammoths, and Myth in Greek and Roman Times, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2000.
2. DorothyBelle Poli and Lisa Stoneman, Drawing New Boundaries: Finding the Origins of Dragons in Carboniferous Plant Fossils. Leonardo, 53 (1):50-57, 2020/02/01 2017. https://doi.org/10.1162/leon_a_01576