There were Dragons in the Earth in those Days
While we were at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History to get the latest on the Mars rovers, we also happened upon something wonderful in the lobby.
It is a casting of a reconstructed dinosaur skull, the original of which resides in The Children's Museum of Indianopolis. The skull was discovered in South Dakota and the species it represents named "Dracorex Hogwartsia", the "Hogwarts" reference in honor of J.K. Rowling the author of the Harry Potter series.
The "dragon king" part is easy to attribute, because the skull looks exactly as though it came from a dragon. No "from certain angles...", no "if you added..." -- it looks exactly like a freakin' dragon. Anyone, primitive or sophisticate, who dug up this skull would be perfectly justified in believing that Here There Be Dragons.
When I crouched down and looked it in the eye socket, a chill went up my simian spine.
The images do not do it justice -- get yourself down to the Natural History Museum and look eye to eye with legend.
postscript -- The "Hogwartsia" reference in the species name is a nice nod to Rowling's book series, and is likely to get lots of kids in to look at the exhibit. And I have no argument with the Harry Potter books -- fun reads, which have gotten millions of children interested in reading series. But personally I think the skull more closely resembles the dragons of Paolini's Eragon series, particularly the cover art from Eldest.
Link to drawing of the skull, by Robert Bakker:
Dracorex skull drawing
It is a casting of a reconstructed dinosaur skull, the original of which resides in The Children's Museum of Indianopolis. The skull was discovered in South Dakota and the species it represents named "Dracorex Hogwartsia", the "Hogwarts" reference in honor of J.K. Rowling the author of the Harry Potter series.
The "dragon king" part is easy to attribute, because the skull looks exactly as though it came from a dragon. No "from certain angles...", no "if you added..." -- it looks exactly like a freakin' dragon. Anyone, primitive or sophisticate, who dug up this skull would be perfectly justified in believing that Here There Be Dragons.
When I crouched down and looked it in the eye socket, a chill went up my simian spine.
The images do not do it justice -- get yourself down to the Natural History Museum and look eye to eye with legend.
postscript -- The "Hogwartsia" reference in the species name is a nice nod to Rowling's book series, and is likely to get lots of kids in to look at the exhibit. And I have no argument with the Harry Potter books -- fun reads, which have gotten millions of children interested in reading series. But personally I think the skull more closely resembles the dragons of Paolini's Eragon series, particularly the cover art from Eldest.
Link to drawing of the skull, by Robert Bakker:
Dracorex skull drawing
posted by InsightStraight @ 12:18 PM
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