Fossil: Imprints of the primeval world

Author: Yvette Gayrard-Valy (Yvette Valy)
Translator: Zheng Keliu
Country: France
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-07-01
Features: About 5,000 years ago, ancient Greek sailors discovered a huge pile of enormous bones resembling giant skeletons in a cave at the foot of Mount Etna on the island of Sicily in modern-day Italy. They must have been terrified. Enormous skulls with only one eye socket scattered throughout the cave—these must be (terrible Cyclopes), who might have lived on the island before. Now that the sailors had desecrated the giants' graves, they would surely bring calamity upon themselves. They should flee as quickly as possible from this land. The Greeks listened intently to the traveler's account, imagining the appearance of these monstrous creatures, and only then did they realize how distant they were from such beings, putting their minds at ease. Thus, the Greeks came to believe that there were some Cyclopes living in the west, who were obstructing the Greeks from establishing a colony on Sicily. This story was passed down through generations. By the 5th century, the Greek historian Thucydides (Thucydide) identified the slopes of Mount Etna as the dwelling place of the Cyclopes; in Homer's epics, the unfortunate Ulysses (Ulysse) witnessed the son of the sea god Poseidon (Poséidon)—the Cyclops Polyphemus (Polyphme)—devouring several of his companions. At the same time, the philosopher Empalocle (Empalocle) also supported this view. However, both of them were mistaken. Homer's description of the land of giants was not in Sicily but further north, near Naples. For several centuries, people firmly believed in the existence of Cyclopes and even added other members to the giant family. The ancient Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder mentioned that on the Greek island of Crete, the remains of the mythological giant Orion (Orion) were found, measuring 13 meters long. According to the Greek historian Herodotus (Hérodote), another mythological giant, Oreste (Oreste), had much smaller remains, only 3.5 meters long. It was said that the remains of the mythological hero Ajax (Ajax) were also found in the Greek island of Salamis (Salamine). The Arabs also believed in the existence of Cyclopes. During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the legend of giants became even more widespread, as explorers continuously discovered numerous giant skeletons on Sicily. The so-called "Cyclopes" did indeed exist millions of years ago. However, they had enormous molars but never tasted human flesh. In fact, they were herbivores with a pair of peaceful, small round eyes! That mysterious "eye socket" of the giants was actually their nostril—they had long noses when alive. In fact, these enormous creatures were pygmy elephants, who never harmed other animals. They lived in the Mediterranean islands during the early Quaternary period, about 2 million years ago. When humans stumbled upon their remains, they had already been extinct for a long time. Other elephant species in Europe shared the same fate. In human imagination, they were transformed into terrifying giants. With the arrival of the Renaissance, a group of cultural elites emerged, eager to explore various phenomena in nature. This wave of exploration grew stronger over the following centuries. From then on, not only monks but also secular individuals became educated. Secular scholars were not only versed in medicine, astronomy, mathematics, and engineering but were also often skilled in alchemy and witchcraft—two skills that could bring substantial income. Scholars enjoyed high prestige and, under the protection of patrons, had ample financial resources to devote themselves entirely to observation, research, and contemplation. These scholars gradually formed schools, attracting students and disciples. As a result, a new generation of amateur scholars emerged, traveling and exchanging letters to discuss various issues and spread new theories. By the late 15th century, the invention of printing and cheap pulp paper further fueled this research trend. People became intensely fascinated with natural sciences, and "strange" discoveries abounded. Richly collected curiosities were often indiscriminately mixed together, forming eclectic "natural history cabinets": fossils alongside paintings, sculptures, crystal vessels, and a variety of animals, skeletons, and specimens (some of which were genuine oddities, while others were pieced together from unidentified remains). At the time, everything dug up from the ground was called a fossil, including various biological remains, petrified substances, minerals, and even prehistoric tools. Someone began compiling catalogs of these collections. A fossil collection was published in 1561, and a catalog of fossils—the Saxon (Saxe) fossil collection catalog—was published in Zurich in 1565, compiled by the Swiss naturalist Conrad Gesner (Conrad Gesner). Among the finest collections of the time was that of Pope Sixtus V (SixtusV), appointed in 1585, curated by Michel Mercati (Michel Mercati), the director of the Vatican Botanical Garden. However, this Vatican Mineral Collection was not published until 1719. The Italian naturalist Ulime Aldrovandi compiled his collection into 87 volumes, publishing his Museum Mineralium in 1648, which included fossils of vertebrates. In the 17th century, the first scientific journals in the West appeared. In 1665, France published Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences (Communications of the Academy of Sciences), and England published Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. Science began to spread among intellectuals. From then on, due to collaboration between scholars across nations, as well as between scholars and amateur researchers, along with the dissemination of knowledge, science continued to advance. Using comparative anatomy, a single tooth could reconstruct the entire picture of an extinct species. According to the principles of comparative anatomy proposed by Cuvier, the following conclusions could be drawn: If we could grasp an important part of an animal's body, especially its teeth, we could reconstruct the rest of its body. Cuvier believed: "If an animal's digestive system is adapted for digesting fresh meat, then its jaws must be capable of swallowing prey, its claws must be able to grasp and tear it apart, its teeth must be able to crush meat, its locomotive organs must be adapted for chasing and capturing prey, its sensory organs must be able to detect prey from a distance, and its brain must possess the indispensable instinct to know how to ambush and wait for prey to fall into a trap." He had an excellent opportunity to test this argument. One day, while working in the gypsum mines of Montmartre, he found a small lower jawbone. Upon examination, he identified the teeth as belonging to a opossum. Today, this marsupial can only be found in the Americas and Australia. Cuvier planned to use this small tooth to stage a remarkable demonstration. He invited his colleagues to witness the excavation of other parts of the skeleton, and he was already certain that he would find the distinctive pouch bones characteristic of the opossum. As expected, his prediction was fulfilled before their eyes. Cuvier vividly described his experience in reconstructing the appearance of extinct organisms: "I would encounter situations where I would be given hundreds of fragments of incomplete skeletons, belonging to over 20 different species, and I had to arrange each piece in its correct position. It was almost like reviving the dead animal. Although I could not blow the horn of resurrection like an angel, I had a set of unchanging laws applicable to living organisms. Under the principles of comparative anatomy, each bone and fragment would naturally fall into place. I cannot describe the joy this work brought me." Using comparative anatomy, Cuvier identified creatures that decades earlier would have been unimaginable, such as the mammoths of the Tertiary and Quaternary periods. He named them Mastodons or Eohippus. The emergence of fossil merchants selfless. With growing interest in fossils, they also presented commercial opportunities. Additionally, museums and paleontologists were also seeking more research material. As long as there were customers, merchants would naturally appear. The residents near fossil-bearing strata quickly realized that they could earn substantial income from the earth. A famous example is the Anning family in England. They lived in Lyme Regis on the southwest coast, an area rich in Mesozoic marine reptile fossils. In the late 18th century, the father of the family, Richard, sold the fossils he found to visitors to improve his family's livelihood. After his death, his two children, Joseph and Mary, along with their small dog, turned the sale of fossils into a family business, which they managed quite successfully. The coastline of this area was a series of cliffs, exposing different strata, and after storms, landslides often occurred. Mary often took her dog for walks along the cliffs in search of fossils. She sold the fossils she collected to dukes, barons, and other nobles, who were studying paleontology to keep up with the times. These nobles often donated their fossil collections to the British Museum through bequests or gifts. Mary and her dog made many remarkable discoveries. A fossil was identified as the skeleton of a plesiosaur and should be credited to them. This skeleton was purchased by Sir Edward Home for 23 pounds. As the fame of these animals grew, so did their value. Four years later, another plesiosaur specimen was auctioned off for 150 pounds. In 1824, the Duke of Buckingham (Duke of Buckingham) bought an incomplete but fairly complete animal skeleton for the same price—the later-identified snake-necked dinosaur—which was also found by Mary and her dog. Incomplete skeletons were much cheaper, and Cuvier purchased a femur of a pterodactyl for only 10 pounds. Of course, not everyone was as commercially motivated. For example, in the Newcastle (Newcastle) coal mining area of England, a grocer named Atthey exchanged goods with miners for fossils. Whenever he had time, he studied the fossils. He did not get rich from the fossils and even went bankrupt later, but his work earned him long-lasting respect from scientists. The German Bernhard Hauff further refined the fossil trade. Starting in the 1890s, he provided clients with "ready-made" fossils: he cleaned and reassembled animal skeletons, which were originally embedded in black slate. His laboratory was well-stocked with crocodiles, plesiosaurs, pterosaurs, fish, and various invertebrates. His collection included a notable plesiosaur, as it was through studying one of his fossils that researchers discovered the presence of dorsal and caudal fins in plesiosaurs. Encountering creatures from the primeval era in the depths of time is a significant theme in science fiction. The American novelist Ray Bradbury's works feature protagonists traveling through millions of years of time, encountering monstrous creatures from primordial worlds, and experiencing anxiety and terror. Lighthouse foghorn "Ssssh!" said Macdonald, "There's something sticking up over there!" He pointed to a dark expanse and said to me. Sure enough, something was swimming toward the lighthouse. The night was freezing cold, and the towering round tower seemed frozen. The lighthouse beam swayed back and forth, and the foghorn's call pierced the thick fog. There was no way to see farther or more clearly. But the sea was right in front of us, its waves crashing onto the shore. The land was peaceful and tranquil, dark and muddy, and we were alone in the towering tower. Far in the distance in front of us, there was a ripple of foam, followed by a series of waves, and something rose from the murky waters. Suddenly, a head emerged from the icy sea, a huge, dark head with two large eyes. The neck appeared, and then—not the body—still the neck, as if it had no end, stretching upward. By then, the head was over 100 meters above sea level, slender and elegant, dark in color. Only then did the body gradually emerge from the water, like a black coral island, covered with shells and crustaceans. Later, a tail could be seen rising and falling. According to my observation, this monster was about 270 to 300 meters long from head to tail. I don't remember what I said, but I know I spoke. "Be brave, Johnny," Macdonald said beside me. "Impossible, I must be dreaming?" "Not dreaming, Johnny. The life we knew was a dream. What you see before you is life a billion years ago. It hasn't changed, but we have—we and the Earth. We live in a dream. It's us." The monster swam slowly in the icy water far away, eerie yet majestic. Fog swirled around it, sometimes obscuring its outline. The lighthouse's bright light suddenly shone down, illuminating the animal's eyes and reflecting colorful light—red, white, red, white—as if it were a record playing signals in a primitive code. Everything was silent, as quiet as the fog that enveloped the monster. "That's a dinosaur, or some kind of animal from that era!" I crouched down and gripped the railing of the stairs. "That's right, it must be from that era." "But those animals are extinct!" "They haven't disappeared, just burrowed deep into the ground. Very deep, very deep, at the bottom of the abyss. Incomprehensibly deep—this word is not ordinary, Johnny, it has endless meaning. It can mean a world of ice and snow, the darkness at the edge of the sky, and the abyss of the world."