It is often said that dinosaurs were only truly discovered in the 19th century, with the coining of the term Dinosauria by British palaeontologist Richard Owen in 1842. Indeed, the word, derived from the Greek deinos (terrible) and sauros (lizard), was created to describe a distinct group of prehistoric reptiles whose fossilised remains bore little resemblance to any living species. But the absence of a word does not imply the absence of the thing itself. Nor does the absence of scientific explanation preclude discovery.
This raises an intriguing question: Could medieval people have found dinosaur fossils?
Digging Deep: A Time of Earth and Labour
The Middle Ages, especially from the 12th century onward, saw major transformations in agriculture, construction, and land use across Europe. Forests were cleared, roads and castles were built, cathedrals rose from the ground, and land was tilled more deeply than ever before. It is entirely plausible—indeed likely—that peasants, labourers, and monks came across large, mysterious bones while digging building foundations or ploughing fields.
Of course, they did not have the scientific framework to understand what they had found. But bones of immense size would have been hard to ignore—and harder still not to interpret.
Mirabilia and Monsters: A World Full of Wonders
A bone of the legendary Wawel Dragon, outside Wawel Cathedral in Krakow, Poland. Photo by Yohan euan o4 / Wikimedia Commons
In medieval thought, the world was a place full of mirabilia—marvellous and mysterious things that testified to the power of God, the diversity of creation, and the strangeness of lands beyond the known world. Many churches and monasteries kept collections of such wonders, which included odd-shaped bones, large teeth, and horns. Some of these may have been the remains of whales, mammoths, or dinosaurs.
The line between natural history and myth was blurry. What could not be explained scientifically was often placed within a moral, theological, or symbolic framework. A giant bone might become the relic of a saint, the rib of a giant, or the evidence of a biblical beast.
Dragons, Behemoths, and the Beast of the Apocalypse
Medieval bestiaries and biblical texts contain many references to monstrous creatures—dragons, behemoths, leviathans, and the beast of the Apocalypse. While often fantastical or allegorical, it is not unreasonable to suppose that they were sometimes inspired by real encounters with fossil remains.
In art and sculpture, we find creatures with long tails, clawed limbs, armoured backs, and reptilian features that, to modern eyes, bear striking similarities to dinosaurs. Could these representations be the result of imagination alone? Or were they perhaps informed, in part, by physical evidence—bones unearthed from the ground, silent but suggestive?
From Monster to Specimen
The head of the 16th-century lindworm statue at Lindwurm Fountain in Klagenfurt, Austria, is modeled on the skull of a woolly rhinoceros found in a nearby quarry in 1335. Photo by Greymouser / Wikimedia Commons
Before the concept of “dinosaur” existed, there were monsters. But what we call monsters today were often the medieval world’s first contact with prehistoric life. Just as ancient Greek myths of giants and titans may have been influenced by fossil remains, so too might medieval legends have been fuelled by the unexplained bones found during an era of intense physical engagement with the land.
The leap from myth to science did not happen overnight. But that does not mean the fossils were invisible. They were simply interpreted through the lenses available: religious, mythological, and symbolic.
Though medieval people lacked the terminology and the scientific understanding to identify dinosaurs as we know them today, it is more than plausible that they found their remains. They may not have called them Dinosauria, but they saw them, touched them, and integrated them into the rich tapestry of medieval belief and imagination.
The absence of a name is not the absence of a thing. And while the Middle Ages did not give us the science of dinosaurs, they may well have kept their bones in plain sight.
Dr Lorris Chevalier, who has a Ph.D. in medieval literature, is a historical advisor for movies, including The Last Duel and Napoleon. Click here to view his website.
By Lorris Chevalier
It is often said that dinosaurs were only truly discovered in the 19th century, with the coining of the term Dinosauria by British palaeontologist Richard Owen in 1842. Indeed, the word, derived from the Greek deinos (terrible) and sauros (lizard), was created to describe a distinct group of prehistoric reptiles whose fossilised remains bore little resemblance to any living species. But the absence of a word does not imply the absence of the thing itself. Nor does the absence of scientific explanation preclude discovery.
This raises an intriguing question: Could medieval people have found dinosaur fossils?
Digging Deep: A Time of Earth and Labour
The Middle Ages, especially from the 12th century onward, saw major transformations in agriculture, construction, and land use across Europe. Forests were cleared, roads and castles were built, cathedrals rose from the ground, and land was tilled more deeply than ever before. It is entirely plausible—indeed likely—that peasants, labourers, and monks came across large, mysterious bones while digging building foundations or ploughing fields.
Of course, they did not have the scientific framework to understand what they had found. But bones of immense size would have been hard to ignore—and harder still not to interpret.
Mirabilia and Monsters: A World Full of Wonders
In medieval thought, the world was a place full of mirabilia—marvellous and mysterious things that testified to the power of God, the diversity of creation, and the strangeness of lands beyond the known world. Many churches and monasteries kept collections of such wonders, which included odd-shaped bones, large teeth, and horns. Some of these may have been the remains of whales, mammoths, or dinosaurs.
The line between natural history and myth was blurry. What could not be explained scientifically was often placed within a moral, theological, or symbolic framework. A giant bone might become the relic of a saint, the rib of a giant, or the evidence of a biblical beast.
Dragons, Behemoths, and the Beast of the Apocalypse
Medieval bestiaries and biblical texts contain many references to monstrous creatures—dragons, behemoths, leviathans, and the beast of the Apocalypse. While often fantastical or allegorical, it is not unreasonable to suppose that they were sometimes inspired by real encounters with fossil remains.
In art and sculpture, we find creatures with long tails, clawed limbs, armoured backs, and reptilian features that, to modern eyes, bear striking similarities to dinosaurs. Could these representations be the result of imagination alone? Or were they perhaps informed, in part, by physical evidence—bones unearthed from the ground, silent but suggestive?
From Monster to Specimen
Before the concept of “dinosaur” existed, there were monsters. But what we call monsters today were often the medieval world’s first contact with prehistoric life. Just as ancient Greek myths of giants and titans may have been influenced by fossil remains, so too might medieval legends have been fuelled by the unexplained bones found during an era of intense physical engagement with the land.
The leap from myth to science did not happen overnight. But that does not mean the fossils were invisible. They were simply interpreted through the lenses available: religious, mythological, and symbolic.
Though medieval people lacked the terminology and the scientific understanding to identify dinosaurs as we know them today, it is more than plausible that they found their remains. They may not have called them Dinosauria, but they saw them, touched them, and integrated them into the rich tapestry of medieval belief and imagination.
The absence of a name is not the absence of a thing. And while the Middle Ages did not give us the science of dinosaurs, they may well have kept their bones in plain sight.
Dr Lorris Chevalier, who has a Ph.D. in medieval literature, is a historical advisor for movies, including The Last Duel and Napoleon. Click here to view his website.
Click here to read more from Lorris Chevalier
Top Image: Photo by Ivan Radic / Flickr
Subscribe to Medievalverse
Related Posts