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Ancient Viking Brachiosaurus? & Other Stuff


teri107

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Dragons; sometimes huge, reptilian, dangerous, sometimes winged, sometimes not creatures – are reported not as mythological but as real in every ancient culture on every continent. Of course, those creatures that we now call dinosaurs were also sometimes huge, dangerous, sometimes winged, sometimes not creatures – that lived on every continent. (Technically pterosaurs are not considered dinosaurs).

Among those ancient cultures who described living dragons were the Norse and that subset of the Norse culture the Vikings.

http://s8int.com/Wor...a-of-sauropoda/

Edited by Saru
Trimmed for length - please avoid copy and pasting large amounts of offsite material
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When ancient cultures or the time of the Vikings, etc., speak of giant and/or dinosaur type animals/dragons, why couldn't they have gotten these ideas from prehistoric dinosaur skeleton or bone discoveries known during their time? Even ancient cultures could identify an abnormally giant-sized vertebra or hip bone or skull or rib. I can see lots of (hero) stories/explanations erupting around any giant bones = dragons, serpents, etc. Even around just a very few discoveries and spreading.

Edited by QuiteContrary
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We know that ancients did run across these and often thought they were the bones of a dragon or some other mythical creature. I recall reading somewhere.....unfortunately, I can't recall where but there was an ancient Greek temple that had the skull (?) of some dinosaur in it supposedly. It seems then Romans came in and took the thing away and it was lost at sea in a ship wreck or some such thing. Hey, I'm going by memory here, so if I get some of it wrong then sue me.

So, the same sort of thing could well have happened with the Vikings............of course now I'm reminded of the Danish tale of Beowulf and the monster Grendel. Hey, a lot of Vikings made homes in what is now Denmark and wound up getting all domesticated themselves.

Edited by keninsc
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So, the same sort of thing could well have happened with the Vikings............of course now I'm reminded of the Danish tale of Beowulf and the monster Grendel. Hey, a lot of Vikings made homes in what is now Denmark and wound up getting all domesticated themselves.

If you can watch Outlander (2008), do it. It's a SciFi movie based on Beowulf, well sort of.

http://ffilms.org/?p=3722

.

Edited by Abramelin
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Dragons; sometimes huge, reptilian, dangerous, sometimes winged, sometimes not creatures – are reported not as mythological but as real in every ancient culture on every continent. Of course, those creatures that we now call dinosaurs were also sometimes huge, dangerous, sometimes winged, sometimes not creatures – that lived on every continent. (Technically pterosaurs are not considered dinosaurs).

Among those ancient cultures who described living dragons were the Norse and that subset of the Norse culture the Vikings.

http://s8int.com/Wor...a-of-sauropoda/

I think it is arrogant of we as modern humans to assume that they only way that ancient peoples could have concieved of fantastic beasts like dragons, etc is by having some sort of direct experience with them. One constant of human culture for as long as it goes back is that of the tradition of storytelling - also known as "making S-hit up". They were probably better at it than we are, because they didn't have electronic devices constantly entertaining their brains for hours a day, sapping their ability to create with the mind itself.

These people actually had imaginations. Think about what is more likely - that some Viking saw a small reptile in the wild and imagined how cool a very huge version of it would be and built a story around it.................or that giant dinosaurs and dragons existed in human times, yet left no tangible evidence of their massive existence? I see bull-$hit stories as being quite a bit more likely.

After all, Cryptozoology wouldn't even exist itself were it not for the propensity of humans to concoct fantastic stories about the natural world.

Edited by orangepeaceful79
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Do you mean the skulls of extinct dwarf elephants that were found by the ancient Greeks and are considered to be the basis of the myth of the Cyclopes? Or am I talking about an entirely different thing?

Beats me Dude, you should know what it is you're talking about because I don't.

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Could be, it's been years since I read that article.....pre-internet.....if that gives you any idea.

I know is going to blow your mind but we used to have to buy magazines, news papers and books to get information.

Yes, I'll wait while you get up off the floor. I know the shock was a bit much for you.

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I think it is arrogant of we as modern humans to assume that they only way that ancient peoples could have concieved of fantastic beasts like dragons, etc is by having some sort of direct experience with them. One constant of human culture for as long as it goes back is that of the tradition of storytelling - also known as "making S-hit up". They were probably better at it than we are, because they didn't have electronic devices constantly entertaining their brains for hours a day, sapping their ability to create with the mind itself.

These people actually had imaginations. Think about what is more likely - that some Viking saw a small reptile in the wild and imagined how cool a very huge version of it would be and built a story around it.................or that giant dinosaurs and dragons existed in human times, yet left no tangible evidence of their massive existence? I see bull-$hit stories as being quite a bit more likely.

After all, Cryptozoology wouldn't even exist itself were it not for the propensity of humans to concoct fantastic stories about the natural world.

THIS!!!!!!!! Very much! I'm perplexed by the notion that our ancestors didn't have imaginations. They spent more time by the fireside spinning tales of whimsy, fancy, heroic deeds and evil monsters. We spend our time slapping a keyboard and arguing over nonsense with faceless peers. No offence to you wonderful lot but let's face it; it would make more sense that they were the ones more prone to a wealth of imagination. Probably far more cultured than the lot of us too. We've lost so much as technology's given us more apparent free time. :(

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Good for you!

:tu:

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Well, unicorns were real - they were simply the Norwals. But apparently most people didn't believe that these long (and very expensive) bits of ivory could come from whales and therefore stated that it must be a land mammal's tusk. Hence the unicorn legend.

Or giant squid. Imagine if one got caught on your anchor when you were dragging it up. :unsure2: Those squid were longer then most ships of the era. :huh: And aka we have the Kraken (especially if said ship got entangled with a larger then usual specimen of the species).

A lot of these "dino/monster" legends have neat origins, if one cares to dig 'em up :sk

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That's true.

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I can't help but feel that sometimes things like Mokele-Mbembe get jumped on a bit too quickly. Most likely is that it is a part of folklore. Up until a hundred years ago people here used to talk about faeries, whether they believed in them or not, it was part of culture, and you wouldn't think twice about saying "Dinnae gang doon tae thon den again, or the Kelpie'll git ye!" to kids too curious about a particularly dangerous stretch of river. Okay so it was a cautionary tale, but these things were alive in the minds of the people, at least in a cultural capacity, if not in a physically real capacity...

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That's a nice horse pendant that guy is selling on ebay. How come creationists see dinosaurs in every single stylised depiction?

Also, no Brachiosaurs lived in Europe, ever.

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If you can watch Outlander (2008), do it. It's a SciFi movie based on Beowulf, well sort of.

http://ffilms.org/?p=3722

.

Great movie, love me some vikings ;) and what a perfect dipiction of a dragon. I don't know how it has anything to do with Beowulf though. Lots of Beowulf movies out there too.

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My own theory is that unicorns are the result of Greek travellers in India describing the Indian rhinoceros as a hippopotamus (Literally "river horse" in Greek) with a horn. Later the "river" part gets dropped by people who don't know what a hippo is.

The school solution to stories of giants and monsters is that our ancestors made them up to account for fossil megafauna bones.

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I bring this point only we think acient man was primative,but with every lie there,it is a story with truth to it acient people where not morons they only wrote or drew what they encountered but remeber alot of animals where not found until this century, the sea as well land that has managed to stay uninhabited could have all kinds of animals waiting to be discovered.

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Say, what happened to that Dragon Chronicler guy who was active on these forums last time I was here, a few years ago. I'm sure he'd have some interesting theories on this.

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Do you have any sources other than s8int for the claim? The website is notorious for being unreliable and full of Creationist propaganda...

Say, what happened to that Dragon Chronicler guy who was active on these forums last time I was here, a few years ago. I'm sure he'd have some interesting theories on this.

We don't talk about him...

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Dragons; sometimes huge, reptilian, dangerous, sometimes winged, sometimes not creatures – are reported not as mythological but as real in every ancient culture on every continent. Of course, those creatures that we now call dinosaurs were also sometimes huge, dangerous, sometimes winged, sometimes not creatures – that lived on every continent. (Technically pterosaurs are not considered dinosaurs).

Among those ancient cultures who described living dragons were the Norse and that subset of the Norse culture the Vikings.

http://s8int.com/Wor...a-of-sauropoda/

I have to rectify this, just cause it's bugging me immensely : The Vikings (from Old Norse víkingr) were the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century. Hence them being called Norsemen. Or to put it simply - Norse = Vikings. One is not a subset of the other, they are two names for the same thing.

Now if you talk Norse mythology, then you are partly correct, but it is the other way around. Norse mythology or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of mythology of the North Germanic peoples (or the Norse) and is actually a subset of Germanic mythology. The latter in turn, is a comprehensive term for myths associated with historical Germanic paganism, including, but not only, Norse mythology, Anglo-Saxon mythology, Continental Germanic mythology, and other versions of the mythologies of the Germanic peoples. Germanic mythology ultimately derives from Indo-European mythology, also known as Indo-Germanic mythology.

Sorry if I sound pedantic, but I hate when people mash up two similar terms, which such different meaning and significance.

If you can watch Outlander (2008), do it. It's a SciFi movie based on Beowulf, well sort of.

http://ffilms.org/?p=3722

Great movie that, I love watching it.

Say, what happened to that Dragon Chronicler guy who was active on these forums last time I was here, a few years ago. I'm sure he'd have some interesting theories on this.

Lets say he became a tad too obsessed with his ideas and started rejecting reality and creating his own. After a few.....lets call them "heavy altercations" with other people and the mods........he was banned if I'm not mistaken.

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Say, what happened to that Dragon Chronicler guy who was active on these forums last time I was here, a few years ago. I'm sure he'd have some interesting theories on this.

Oh, he got et.

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