MARGINALIA
Dinosaurs as a Cultural Phenomenon
Keith Thomson
Few sciences have been as successful as paleontology in remaining
serious yet broadly accessible at the same time. Much of its
popularity may come from the image of the paleontologist-explorer
who pits himself against the wilderness and brings back fabulous
things. The image is even partly true, because in the 19th century,
dinosaurs (and paleontology) became part of the myth of the American
West. No longer were important discoveries made by European
gentlemen in suits and ties who directed a couple of workmen in an
obscure quarry. Instead, fossil collecting had become
"prospecting": A man with a horse and a pick—and of
course a rifle—could venture out West and, like his
gold-seeking cousins, bring back untold wealth from the rocks. That
fantasy carries much more weight than the reality of the scientist
in a lab coat, noting tiny details in endless trays of museum
specimens and preoccupied more with statistics and geochemistry than
with campfires in the badlands. No matter that most paleontology
concerns undramatic taxa like graptolites and brachiopods, the field
continues to enjoy a reputation as a richly rewarded, swashbuckling enterprise.
But why dinosaurs? They were not the first prehistoric creatures to
gain wide attention. In 1801 Charles Willson Peale, a talented
artist, showman, and inventor of the modern natural history museum,
excavated the remains of three large mastodons from Newburgh, New
York. The display of one of Peale's mastodons in Philadelphia helped
start the public fascination with fossils. In the 1820s and '30s
Mary Anning excavated an amazing array of ichthyosaurs and
plesiosaurs from the Jurassic cliffs of Lyme Regis, England. In 1824
William Buckland described the world's first
dinosaur—Megalosaurus—and the next year Gideon
Mantell followed with the herbivorous Iguanodon. An 1830
watercolor by Henry de la Beche first depicted such creatures in
life settings, but to judge by popular science books of the
mid-century, ichthyosaurs and pterosaurs were much more captivating
to the public. The modern popularity of dinosaurs has partly to do
with the creatures themselves; it owes even more to astute
showmanship and media savvy.
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