19th century in ichnology

Illustration of Chelichnus, the first kind of fossil footprint to be studied by scientists. It was originally thought to have been left by a tortoise, but is now attributed to an evolutionary precursor to mammals.

The 19th century in ichnology refers to advances made between the years 1800 and 1899 in the scientific study of trace fossils, the preserved record of the behavior and physiological processes of ancient life forms, especially fossil footprints. The 19th century was notably the first century in which fossil footprints received scholarly attention. British paleontologist William Buckland performed the first true scientific research on the subject during the early 1830s.[1]

A slab of Permian-aged sandstone had been discovered in Scotland which preserved a series of unusual footprints. After acquiring the specimen, Buckland experimented with modern animals to ascertain the trackmaker and concluded that the Scottish footprints were made by tortoises.[1] Later in the century famed advocate of evolution Thomas Henry Huxley would refute this attribution and these footprints, called Chelichnus, would remain without an identified trackmaker until scientists recognized that they were actually made by an evolutionary precursor to mammals.[2]

The 1830s also saw the discovery and investigation of unusual hand-shaped footprints from Triassic rocks in Germany that were later named Chirotherium. The identification of the Chirotherium trackmaker proved elusive and suggestions from researchers included everything from monkeys to giant toads and kangaroos.[3] Chirotherium proved to be an enduring ichnological mystery that would not be solved until long into the 20th century.[4]

Some of the most important ichnological research of the 19th century occurred across the Atlantic in the United States. Dinosaur footprints were first discovered there in 1802 when a Massachusetts farm boy stumbled upon bird-like footprints in sandstone that the local clergy mistakenly attributed to the raven that Noah released from his ark during the Biblical Flood.[5] The region's footprints came to the attention of scholars during the mid 1830s when further bird-like dinosaur tracks were discovered elsewhere in the state. These became the lifelong preoccupation of prominent ichnologist Edward Hitchcock. Hitchcock thought the tracks were made by giant flightless birds.[6]

Late in the 19th century prisoners in Nevada discovered a major Ice Age track site at what was once an ancient lake shore. Many of the trackmakers were familiar animals like mammoths or even more modern animals like deer and wolves, but this track site also seemed to preserve the tracks of a sandal-wearing giant.[7] The tracks received significant scholarly and popular attention like satire by Mark Twain who attributed the giant tracks to primitive Nevadan legislators. However, the true identity of the "giant" trackmaker was recognized by paleontologists Joseph Le Conte and Othniel Charles Marsh as a giant ground sloth, possibly of the genus Mylodon.[8]

19th century

1800s

1802

1820s

William Buckland, the paleontologist who described the first Chelichnus tracks

1820s

Late 1820s

1828

1830s

1831

1834

1835

1836

1840s

1842

1843

1845

1846

1847

1848

1850s

1850

1851

1852

1854

1858

1860s

Portrait of Edward Hitchcock

1860

1862

1864

1865

1870s

1877

1879

1880s

Location of Carson City in Nevada.

Early 1880s

1880

1884

1886

1889

1890s

1890s

1894

1895

See also

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 Lockley and Meyer (2000); "Earliest Discoveries," pages 25–27.
  2. Lockley and Meyer (2000); "Earliest Discoveries," pages 27–28.
  3. Lockley and Meyer (2000); "The Story of Chirotherium: The Dawn of the Archosaurs," pages 54–55.
  4. Lockley and Meyer (2000); "The Story of Chirotherium: The Dawn of the Archosaurs," pages 57–58.
  5. 1 2 3 Weishampel and Young (1996); "Footprints in Stone," page 58.
  6. Weishampel and Young (1996); "Footprints in Stone," pages 58–60.
  7. 1 2 Lockley and Hunt (1995); "The Case of the Carson City 'Man Tracks'," page 277.
  8. Lockley and Hunt (1995); "The Case of the Carson City 'Man Tracks'," pages 278–279.
  9. Lockley and Meyer (2000); "Earliest Discoveries," page 25.
  10. Lockley and Meyer (2000); "The Story of Chirotherium: The Dawn of the Archosaurs," page 53.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Lockley and Meyer (2000); "Earliest Discoveries," page 27.
  12. Lockley and Meyer (2000); "The Story of Chirotherium: The Dawn of the Archosaurs," pages 53–54.
  13. Lockley and Meyer (2000); "The Story of Chirotherium: The Dawn of the Archosaurs," page 54.
  14. Weishampel and Young (1996); "Footprints in Stone," page 59.
  15. Weishampel and Young (1996); "Footprints in Stone," pages 59–60.
  16. 1 2 3 Weishampel and Young (1996); "Footprints in Stone," page 60.
  17. Weishampel and Young (1996); "Theropoda: Skeletons. Fires, and Footprints," page 113.
  18. 1 2 Lockley and Meyer (2000); "1. What Are the Correct Ichnogenus and Species Names to Use for These Tracks?" page 195.
  19. 1 2 Lockley and Meyer (2000); "Rotliegendes: Permian Trackway Heaven," page 39.
  20. Lockley and Meyer (2000); "Rotliegendes: Permian Trackway Heaven," page 38.
  21. Lockley and Meyer (2000); "Tracking in the Holy Cross Mountains, Poland," page 118.
  22. 1 2 Lockley and Meyer (2000); "Earliest Discoveries," page 28.
  23. 1 2 3 Lockley and Meyer (2000); "Iguanodon and Conan Doyle's Lost World," page 201.
  24. Weishampel and Young (1996); "Theropoda: Tracking and Attacking in the Triassic," page 98.
  25. Lockley and Meyer (2000); "The Story of Chirotherium: The Dawn of the Archosaurs," page 56.
  26. Lockley and Meyer (2000); "Turtles and Hopping Dinosaurs," page 178.
  27. 1 2 Weishampel and Young (1996); "Footprints in Stone," page 61.
  28. 1 2 3 Lockley and Meyer (2000); "Welsh Dinosaurs at the Jolly Sailor Pub," page 79.
  29. Moore (2014); "1880" (2), page 90.
  30. Lockley and Hunt (1995); "Chapter 6: The Cenozoic Era," page 321.
  31. Lockley and Hunt (1995); "The Case of the Carson City 'Man Tracks'," page 279.
  32. Lockley and Meyer (2000); "Mr. Pooley's Enigmatic Track Discovery," page 143.
  33. Weishampel and Young (1996); "More Early Footprints," page 62.
  34. Lockley and Hunt (1995); "The Case of the Carson City 'Man Tracks'," page 280.
  35. Weishampel and Young (1996); "More Early Footprints," page 63.
  36. Lockley and Meyer (2000); "Dinosaurs in the Great Deltas of Yorkshire," page 133.
  37. Lockley and Hunt (1995); "Interpreting Tracks and Track Habitats," page 51.
  38. Weishampel and Young (1996); "More Early Footprints," pages 62–63.

References

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