Editing Fossil (section)

=== Ancient civilizations ===
[[File:hyperborean-gryphon-persepolis-protoceratops-psittacosaurus-skeletons.jpg|thumb|right|Ceratopsian skulls are common in the [[Dzungarian Gate]] mountain pass in Asia, an area once famous for gold mines, as well as its endlessly cold winds. This has been attributed to legends of both gryphons and the land of Hyperborea.]]
Fossils have been visible and common throughout most of natural history, and so documented human interaction with them goes back as far as recorded history, or earlier.

There are many examples of [[Paleolithic]] stone knives in Europe, with fossil [[echinoderm]]s set precisely at the hand grip, dating back to ''[[Homo heidelbergensis]]'' and [[Neanderthal]]s.<ref name=prehistoric /> These ancient peoples also drilled holes through the center of those round fossil shells, apparently using them as beads for necklaces.

The ancient Egyptians gathered fossils of species that resembled the bones of modern species they worshipped. The god [[Set (deity)|Set]] was associated with the [[hippopotamus]], therefore fossilized bones of hippo-like species were kept in that deity's temples.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.wondersandmarvels.com/2016/09/ancient-egyptians-collected-fossils.html |title=Ancient Egyptians Collected Fossils |access-date=9 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190210044430/http://www.wondersandmarvels.com/2016/09/ancient-egyptians-collected-fossils.html |archive-date=10 February 2019 |url-status=dead |date=5 September 2016 }}</ref> Five-rayed fossil sea urchin shells were associated with the deity [[Sopdu]], the Morning Star, equivalent of [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]] in Roman mythology.<ref name=prehistoric />

[[File:Micraster coranguinum.4 - Cretacico superior.JPG|thumb|right|Fossil shells from the [[cretaceous]] era sea urchin, [[Micraster]], were used in medieval times as both shepherd's crowns to protect houses, and as painted fairy loaves by bakers to bring luck to their bread-making.]]
Fossils appear to have directly contributed to the mythology of many civilizations, including the ancient Greeks. Classical Greek historian [[Herodotos]] wrote of an area near [[Hyperborea]] where [[gryphon]]s protected golden treasure. There was indeed gold mining [[Dzungarian Gate#Hyperborean connection|in that approximate region]], where beaked ''[[Protoceratops]]'' skulls were common as fossils.

A later [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] scholar, [[Aristotle]], eventually realized that fossil seashells from rocks were similar to those found on the beach, indicating the fossils were once living animals. He had previously explained them in terms of [[vapor]]ous [[exhalation]]s,<ref>{{Cite book|via=The Internet Classics Archive | title=[[Meteorology (Aristotle)|Meteorology]]
| author=Aristotle
| author-link=Aristotle
| translator= E. W. Webster
| orig-year = 350 {{sc|BCE}}
 | year = 1931
| chapter = Book {{sc|iii}} part 6
|chapter-url=http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/meteorology.3.iii.html|access-date=2023-02-20|archive-date=18 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140218151153/http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/meteorology.3.iii.html|url-status=live}}</ref> which [[Persia]]n polymath [[Avicenna]] modified into the theory of [[Petrifaction|petrifying]] [[fluid]]s ({{lang|la|succus lapidificatus}}). Recognition of fossil seashells as originating in the sea was built upon in the 14th century by [[Albert of Saxony (philosopher)|Albert of Saxony]], and accepted in some form by most [[naturalist]]s by the 16th century.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Meaning of Fossils: Episodes in the History of Palaeontology|first=M. J. S.|last=Rudwick|year=1985|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-NuYXr8BszwC&pg=PA24|isbn=978-0-226-73103-2|page=24|access-date=11 October 2018|archive-date=17 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230317062708/https://books.google.com/books?id=-NuYXr8BszwC&pg=PA24|url-status=live}}</ref>

Roman naturalist [[Pliny the Elder]] wrote of "[[tongue stone]]s", which he called [[glossopetra]]. These were fossil shark teeth, thought by some classical cultures to look like the tongues of people or snakes.<ref name=sharkteeth /> He also wrote about the [[horns of Ammon]], which are fossil [[ammonite]]s, whence the group of shelled octopus-cousins ultimately draws its modern name. Pliny also makes one of the earlier known references to [[toadstone]]s, thought until the 18th century to be a magical cure for poison originating in the heads of toads, but which are fossil teeth from ''[[Lepidotes]]'', a [[Cretaceous]] ray-finned fish.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/fossils/pliny.htm |title=References to fossils by Pliny the Elder |access-date=16 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190102155131/http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/fossils/pliny.htm |archive-date=2 January 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The [[Plains tribes]] of North America are thought to have similarly associated fossils, such as the many intact pterosaur fossils naturally exposed in the region, with their own mythology of the [[thunderbird (mythology)|thunderbird]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jb9dAQAAQBAJ&q=fossil+legends+of+the+first+americans|title=Fossil Legends of the First Americans|first=Adrienne|last=Mayor|date=24 October 2013|publisher=Princeton University Press|access-date=18 October 2019|via=Google Books|isbn=978-1-4008-4931-4|archive-date=17 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230317062708/https://books.google.com/books?id=jb9dAQAAQBAJ&q=fossil+legends+of+the+first+americans|url-status=live}}</ref>

There is no such direct mythological connection known from prehistoric Africa, but there is considerable evidence of tribes there excavating and moving fossils to ceremonial sites, apparently treating them with some reverence.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://theconversation.com/how-we-know-that-ancient-african-people-valued-fossils-and-rocks-110321 |title=How we know that ancient African people valued fossils and rocks |date=29 January 2019 |access-date=9 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190210152607/http://theconversation.com/how-we-know-that-ancient-african-people-valued-fossils-and-rocks-110321 |archive-date=10 February 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In Japan, fossil shark teeth were associated with the mythical [[tengu]], thought to be the razor-sharp claws of the creature, documented some time after the 8th century AD.<ref name=sharkteeth>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/fossils/cartilage.htm |title=Cartilaginous fish |access-date=16 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170730044544/http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/fossils/cartilage.htm |archive-date=30 July 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In medieval China, the fossil bones of ancient mammals including ''[[Homo erectus]]'' were often mistaken for "[[dragon]] bones" and used as medicine and [[aphrodisiac]]s. In addition, some of these fossil bones are collected as "art" by scholars, who left scripts on various artifacts, indicating the time they were added to a collection. One good example is the famous scholar [[Huang Tingjian]] of the [[Song dynasty]] during the 11th century, who kept a specific seashell fossil with his own poem engraved on it.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://culture.people.com.cn/BIG5/n/2013/0517/c22219-21521301.html |title=4億年前"書法化石"展出 黃庭堅曾刻下四行詩[圖] |trans-title=400 million-year-old fossil appeared in exhibition with poem by Huang Tingjian |date=17 May 2013 |access-date=7 June 2018 |newspaper=[[People's Daily|People's Daily Net]] |language=zh-hant |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612141515/http://culture.people.com.cn/BIG5/n/2013/0517/c22219-21521301.html |archive-date=12 June 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> In his ''[[Dream Pool Essays]]'' published in 1088, Song dynasty Chinese [[scholar-official]] [[Shen Kuo]] hypothesized that marine fossils found in a [[stratum|geological stratum]] of mountains located hundreds of miles from the [[Pacific Ocean]] was evidence that a prehistoric seashore had once existed there and [[Geomorphology|shifted over centuries of time]].<ref>Sivin, Nathan (1995). ''Science in Ancient China: Researches and Reflections''. Brookfield, Vermont: VARIORUM, Ashgate Publishing. III, p. 23</ref><ref name=nj>Needham, Joseph. (1959). ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth''. [[Cambridge University Press]]. pp. 603–618.</ref> His observation of [[petrified]] [[bamboo]]s in the dry northern climate zone of what is now [[Yan'an]], [[Shaanxi]] province, China, led him to advance early ideas of gradual [[climate change (general concept)|climate change]] due to bamboo naturally growing in wetter climate areas.<ref name=nj /><ref>Chan, Alan Kam-leung and Gregory K. Clancey, Hui-Chieh Loy (2002). ''Historical Perspectives on East Asian Science, Technology and Medicine''. Singapore: [[Singapore University Press]]. p. 15. {{ISBN|9971-69-259-7}}.</ref><ref name="Rafferty 2012 p. 6">Rafferty, John P. (2012). ''Geological Sciences; Geology: Landforms, Minerals, and Rocks''. New York: Britannica Educational Publishing, p. 6. {{ISBN|9781615305445}}</ref>

In medieval [[Christendom]], fossilized sea creatures on mountainsides were seen as proof of the biblical deluge of [[Noah's Ark]]. After observing the existence of seashells in mountains, the [[List of ancient Greek philosophers|ancient Greek philosopher]] [[Xenophanes]] (c. 570 – 478 BC) speculated that the world was once inundated in a great flood that buried living creatures in drying mud.<ref>Desmond, Adrian. "The Discovery of Marine Transgressions and the Explanation of Fossils in Antiquity", ''American Journal of Science'', 1975, Volume 275: 692–707.</ref><ref name="Rafferty 2012 pp 5–6">Rafferty, John P. (2012). ''Geological Sciences; Geology: Landforms, Minerals, and Rocks''. New York: Britannica Educational Publishing, pp. 5–6. {{ISBN|9781615305445}}.</ref>

In 1027, the [[Persian people|Persian]] [[Avicenna]] explained fossils' stoniness in ''[[The Book of Healing]]'':

{{blockquote|If what is said concerning the petrifaction of animals and plants is true, the cause of this (phenomenon) is a powerful mineralizing and petrifying virtue which arises in certain stony spots, or emanates suddenly from the earth during earthquake and subsidences, and petrifies whatever comes into contact with it. As a matter of fact, the petrifaction of the bodies of plants and animals is not more extraordinary than the transformation of waters.<ref>{{cite book|title=Science, optics, and music in medieval and early modern thought|author=Alistair Cameron Crombie|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group|year=1990|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zWrH7h9jNgUC&pg=PA108|isbn=978-0-907628-79-8|pages=108–109|access-date=11 October 2018|archive-date=17 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230317062732/https://books.google.com/books?id=zWrH7h9jNgUC&pg=PA108|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

From the 13th century to the present day, scholars pointed out that the fossil skulls of [[Deinotherium giganteum]], found in [[Crete]] and Greece, might have been interpreted as being the skulls of the [[Cyclopes]] of [[Greek mythology]], and are possibly the origin of that Greek myth.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2003/02/news-deinotherium-fossils-crete-mythology-paleontology/ |title=Cyclops Myth Spurred by 'One-Eyed' Fossils? |website=[[National Geographic Society]] |access-date=16 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190217030312/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2003/02/news-deinotherium-fossils-crete-mythology-paleontology/ |archive-date=17 February 2019 |url-status=dead |date=5 February 2003 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://mentalfloss.com/article/64093/8-types-imaginary-creatures-discovered-fossils |title=8 Types of Imaginary Creatures "Discovered" In Fossils |access-date=16 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190216044433/http://mentalfloss.com/article/64093/8-types-imaginary-creatures-discovered-fossils |archive-date=16 February 2019 |url-status=dead |date=19 May 2015 }}</ref> Their skulls appear to have a single eye-hole in the front, just like their modern [[elephant]] cousins, though in fact it's actually the opening for their trunk.

In [[Norse mythology]], echinoderm shells (the round five-part button left over from a sea urchin) were associated with the god [[Thor]], not only being incorporated in [[Thunderstone (folklore)#Fossils as thunderstones|thunderstones]], representations of Thor's hammer and subsequent hammer-shaped crosses as Christianity was adopted, but also kept in houses to garner Thor's protection.<ref name=prehistoric>{{Cite web |url=https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Geoscientist/Archive/June-2012/Prehistoric-fossil-collectors |title=Prehistoric Fossil Collectors |access-date=16 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190217090444/https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Geoscientist/Archive/June-2012/Prehistoric-fossil-collectors |archive-date=17 February 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

These grew into the [[shepherd's crown]]s of English folklore, used for decoration and as good luck charms, placed by the doorway of homes and churches.<ref name=echinoderm>{{Cite web |url=https://depositsmag.com/2017/04/04/folklore-of-fossil-echinoderms/ |title=Folklore of Fossil Echinoderms |access-date=16 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190217142211/https://depositsmag.com/2017/04/04/folklore-of-fossil-echinoderms/ |archive-date=17 February 2019 |url-status=live |date=4 April 2017 }}</ref> In [[Suffolk]], a different species was used as a good-luck charm by bakers, who referred to them as [[fairy loaf|fairy loaves]], associating them with the similarly shaped loaves of bread they baked.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=http://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/273/1/279 |title=Shepherds' crowns, fairy loaves and thunderstones: the mythology of fossil echinoids in England |journal=Geological Society, London, Special Publications |volume=273 |issue=1 |pages=279–294 |access-date=16 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190221225625/http://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/273/1/279 |archive-date=21 February 2019 |url-status=dead |doi=10.1144/GSL.SP.2007.273.01.22 |year=2007 |last1=McNamara |first1=Kenneth J. |bibcode=2007GSLSP.273..279M |s2cid=129384807 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://echinoblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/archaeological-echinoderm-fairy-loaves.html |title=Archaeological Echinoderm! Fairy Loaves & Thunderstones! |access-date=16 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190217084856/http://echinoblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/archaeological-echinoderm-fairy-loaves.html |archive-date=17 February 2019 |url-status=dead |date=12 January 2009 }}</ref>