How were Dinosaur fossils only discovered in the 1800’s? Did no one prior to this time period come across them?

Question

How were Dinosaur fossils only discovered in the 1800’s? Did no one prior to this time period come across them?

In: 4653

Answer 1

Plenty of people found dinosaur fossils before the 1800s, but it wasn’t until the 1800s that people started to realize they represented the skeletons of extinct reptiles and not biblical giants, Roman war elephants, or “Scrotum humanum”. Another thing to remember is that most fossils are underground so the expansion of mining for coal, metals, and minerals associated with the Industrial revolution led to an increase in the discovery of fossils, giving scientists more opportunities to study them.