Dragons

[WTF]

Dragons

Has anybody here read any Velikovsky or Robert Boulay? What are some thoughts on Dragon myths in history? Could dragons myths have maybe stemmed from dinosaurs that have somehow survived the deluge/or other cataclysm to only die out in more recent history? Maybe the memory of dinosaurs from antiquity was somehow engrained into our DNA/subconscious memory? The Chinese beleive that their royalty were descendants of dragons and that dragons still live underground. Any thoughts?

 

[darkbreed]

Re: Dragons

I've also thought about the dinosaur/dragon connection. There are signs in history and archaeological findings pointing at the possibility that man may at some point have lived side by side with dinosaurs. Could be some of these creatures lived in remote areas for a long time and only at rare occations came was seen by people, maybe they still even do live somewhere. Cryptozoologists often talk about various dinosaur reports of more modern times, spesifically in Africa and South America. We also got the famous lake monsters from around the world that could be related to such stories

 

[Lucidus]

Re: Dragons

My theory of is that dragon mythology is probably derived from fossils. Early people would have encountered these fossils and made the reasonable assumption that they came from some dragon like beast. Today we call these beast dinosaurs and believe that have been extinct for quite a long time.

 

[Harte]

Re: Dragons

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(\"darkbreed\")</div>

I've also thought about the dinosaur/dragon connection. There are signs in history and archaeological findings pointing at the possibility that man may at some point have lived side by side with dinosaurs. Could be some of these creatures lived in remote areas for a long time and only at rare occations came was seen by people, maybe they still even do live somewhere. Cryptozoologists often talk about various dinosaur reports of more modern times, spesifically in Africa and South America. We also got the famous lake monsters from around the world that could be related to such stories[/b]

I am willing to believe that some dinosaur types may have survived into the modern era, but if it's true they must be exceedingly rare and isolated. For this reason I doubt that actual encounters are the basis of the dragon mythos. It is far more likely that the genesis of dragon myths is the often exposed fossilized bone of dinosaurs. This, in combination with meteor fireballs and impacts, is enough to explain the whole thing, to my mind.

Harte

 

[BubbuClinton]

Re: Dragons

If I remember right, Dragon Mythology began in China. The Chinese believe they are direct descents of dragons. They depict dragons in their ancient art work with items that look strikingly like commets or metors streaking across the sky. Perhaps they saw dinosaur fossils and related it to a meteor and created flying firebreathing dragons.

I would have to go with Harte on the Dinosaur and human contact thing. If you can believe the Uniformist theory of dating then dinosaurs either died out 60 million years ago or evolved into birds. I have some issues with this theory but with out more evidence its the best we can do.

As for remote areas and living dinosaurs, just maybe there are some ancient fish in the deep oceans, or in giant lizards in glacial lakes in northern Scotland.

Bubbu
__________________________________________

 

[Harte]

Re: Dragons

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(\"BubbuClinton\")</div>

If I remember right, Dragon Mythology began in China. The Chinese believe they are direct descents of dragons. They depict dragons in their ancient art work with items that look strikingly like commets or metors streaking across the sky. Perhaps they saw dinosaur fossils and related it to a meteor and created flying firebreathing dragons.

I would have to go with Harte on the Dinosaur and human contact thing. If you can believe the Uniformist theory of dating then dinosaurs either died out 60 million years ago or evolved into birds. I have some issues with this theory but with out more evidence its the best we can do.

As for remote areas and living dinosaurs, just maybe there are some ancient fish in the deep oceans, or in giant lizards in glacial lakes in northern Scotland.

Bubbu
__________________________________________[/b]

Bubbu,
It may be true that the Chinese dragon mythos is older than any other, but the dragons of Europe did not come by word of mouth from China. European dragon stories go back to a time before contact with China.

I saw an interesting program on the History Channel about this. Some scientist has correlated tree rings with various times when dragon stories were predominant in Europe and he claims that the growth rings during these times show extremely low growth, presumably due to less sunlight caused by dust from meteor impacts or something.

Additionally, many of the mythological beings of ancient Greece can be explained with dinosaur (or other) fossils. Areas that were reputed to be home to some of these beasts (like the hydra) are today found to be rich with deposits of fossils. In fact, a fossilized mastodon skull is thought to be the origin of the cyclops myth. A mastodon skull has a large round hole in the center of the forehead that could be mistaken for an eye socket by unknowing observers.

Harte

 

[BubbuClinton]

Re: Dragons

I think I saw that show. So it must be true ) .

I know they are riddled with fossils over there. I think they showed a fossil ed shell that looked like a giant claw also. And a T-Rex skull that looked like a dragon. I remember the mastodon skull thing. It was an interesting show.

I remember when I was a kid going to Arches national park where there is a human foot print next to a diansaur print on a cliff wall. That was interesting.

Bubbu

 

[darkbreed]

Re: Dragons

Indeed various skeletons and fossils that have been found probably have fed the imagination of many ancient men and thus created strange tales and stories.

But personally I also believe there is more to it than just this explanation. And then I mean the possibility of undiscovered animals that can have been sighted by a few people, as I allready mentioned lake monsters / sea creatures etc, but also land creatures are out there to be discovered I'm sure. There's been so many accounts of people who have seen strange creatures through history, my father being one of them, and I've got a hard time believing they are all lying or making things up. After all, new animal species keep being discovered all the time.
Here's a couple links to some cryptozoological sites:
http://www.pibburns.com/cryptozo.htm
http://www.cfz.org.uk/
http://www.cryptokeeper.com/
http://www.cryptozoology.com/

Dinosaurs of 20th and 21st Century:
http://www.s8int.com/dino1.html

 

[WTF]

Re: Dragons

A class mate of mine a few years ago was from Africa and he related stories to me about a dragon/dinosaur type being that lived in the deep deep jungle swamp areas of that continent. I beleived he called them something like m'bembe.
Here's a link http://unmuseum.mus.pa.us/mokele.htm

Anyone here ever heard of the Nagas?

 

[darkbreed]

Re: Dragons

Yeah I've heard of that dinosaur type nicked m'bembe in the Congos. There's a similar creature in south america but I can't remember what they call it there.

Ain't the nagas something similar to mermaids?