I found this interesting...

en.wikipedia.org...:Uruk3000BCE.jpg

From the article on Uruk. What do those beasts look like, eh?

They look like a bad link, I'm afraid.

Quite seriously.

I'm assuming this is the image you're referring to:
en.wikipedia.org...:Uruk3000BCE.jpg

And they do look a lot like dinosaurs, which is interesting since they obviously predate the Sumerians quite a bit
I'm also assuming that the Sumerians were not thought to have knowledge of dinosaur fossils, but I could be wrong. I'm no expert on them.
This is very interesting, although next time you might want to provide a bit more info & opinions in your initial post, in order to get the discussion started.

What the??? Now I get the bogus link as well... Trying again...
upload.wikimedia.org...

[edit on 12-7-2008 by MrVertigo]

My guess?
The same beast as here:
nefertiti.iwebland.com...
Tails are very problematic though, however since Uruk is a little farther from those animals then Egypt - imagination could make the rest.
I do not think that dinosaurs had those big ears either.

Nice cylinder seal CC, good find.

Welcome to an example of artististic license, You note the nice design? It requires the necks and tails to be long.....presto-and artistic representation of long tails and necks.



If the people of Sumer had had to deal with dinosaurs I think it would have figured into mythology and legend a great deal more. Their weaponry doesn't reflect hunting or defending themselves against animals of that size and power.

Their early weaponry was designed to hunt down and kill lions and men - there two most dangerous foes. You would hunt dinosaurs with traps, pikes and heavy pole arms, or better yet poisoned weapons - the same way the pygmies hunt elephants. Of course elephants aren't trying to eat you at the same time!

Could the Early people have had access or seen fossils of dinosarus or other megafauna? Yes, we know that the Greeks did and they even pictured them in their art.

[edit on 12/7/08 by Hanslune]

Originally posted by Hanslune

Could the Early people have had access or seen fossils of dinosarus or other megafauna? Yes, we know that the Greeks did and they even pictured them in their art.

[edit on 12/7/08 by Hanslune]

Could you please link to some documented examples of dinosaurs in ancient Greek art?
I would be very interested to see....

Howdy Psychopump

Here you go



A link

The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times.
by Adrienne Mayor
ISBN-13: 978-0691089775

As Mayor shows, the Greeks and Romans were well aware that a different breed of creatures once inhabited their lands. They frequently encountered the fossilized bones of these primeval beings, and they developed sophisticated concepts to explain the fossil evidence, concepts that were expressed in mythological stories. The legend of the gold-guarding griffin, for example, sprang from tales first told by Scythian gold-miners, who, passing through the Gobi Desert at the foot of the Altai Mountains, encountered the skeletons of Protoceratops and other dinosaurs that littered the ground.

reply to post by Hanslune


Fascinating!
Thankyou for the link.

I will do some more digging on this subject.

It is also thought that the idea of the cyclops may have come from seeing mastadon skulls, which give the impression of having one large eye in the center.