The "late stone age turns out to be at 1821-1835.-a If we adopt the
attitude that the San people of South Africa were at the time living in
the stone age.-a But it's an intriguing story.
"A possible later stone age painting of a dicynodont (Synapsida) from
the South African Karoo"
Abstract
The Horned Serpent panel at La Belle France (Free State Province, South Africa) was painted by the San at least two hundred years ago. It
pictures, among many other elements, a tusked animal with a head that resembles that of a dicynodont, the fossils of which are abundant and conspicuous in the Karoo Basin. This picture also seemingly relates to a local San myth about large animals that once roamed southern Africa and
are now extinct. This suggests the existence of a San geomyth about dicynodonts. Here, the La Belle France site has been visited, the
existence of the painted tusked animal is confirmed, and the presence of tetrapod fossils in its immediate vicinity is supported. Altogether,
they suggest a case of indigenous palaeontology. The painting is dated between 1821 and 1835, or older, making it at least ten years older than
the formal scientific description of the first dicynodont, Dicynodon lacerticeps, in 1845. The painting of a dicynodont by the San would also suggest that they integrated (at least some) fossils into their belief system.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0309908
On 5/5/25 13:21, erik simpson wrote:
The "late stone age turns out to be at 1821-1835.-a If we adopt the
attitude that the San people of South Africa were at the time living
in the stone age.-a But it's an intriguing story.
"A possible later stone age painting of a dicynodont (Synapsida) from
the South African Karoo"
Abstract
The Horned Serpent panel at La Belle France (Free State Province,
South Africa) was painted by the San at least two hundred years ago.
It pictures, among many other elements, a tusked animal with a head
that resembles that of a dicynodont, the fossils of which are abundant
and conspicuous in the Karoo Basin. This picture also seemingly
relates to a local San myth about large animals that once roamed
southern Africa and are now extinct. This suggests the existence of a
San geomyth about dicynodonts. Here, the La Belle France site has been
visited, the existence of the painted tusked animal is confirmed, and
the presence of tetrapod fossils in its immediate vicinity is
supported. Altogether, they suggest a case of indigenous
palaeontology. The painting is dated between 1821 and 1835, or older,
making it at least ten years older than the formal scientific
description of the first dicynodont, Dicynodon lacerticeps, in 1845.
The painting of a dicynodont by the San would also suggest that they
integrated (at least some) fossils into their belief system.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0309908
So do we know what dicynodonts looked like?-a What we often 'see' might
be something like modified 'scales' or 'hair' or 'whiskers'.
Some had hair?-a All had hair?-a None had hair?-a What we would know of as 'hair' only came into existence in the Triassic?-a Are there any
non-extinct amphibians that have scales that might be similar to 'hair' in some ways?
On 5/7/25 6:34 AM, x wrote:
On 5/5/25 13:21, erik simpson wrote:
The "late stone age turns out to be at 1821-1835.-a If we adopt theSo do we know what dicynodonts looked like?-a What we often 'see' might
attitude that the San people of South Africa were at the time living
in the stone age.-a But it's an intriguing story.
"A possible later stone age painting of a dicynodont (Synapsida) from
the South African Karoo"
Abstract
The Horned Serpent panel at La Belle France (Free State Province,
South Africa) was painted by the San at least two hundred years ago.
It pictures, among many other elements, a tusked animal with a head
that resembles that of a dicynodont, the fossils of which are
abundant and conspicuous in the Karoo Basin. This picture also
seemingly relates to a local San myth about large animals that once
roamed southern Africa and are now extinct. This suggests the
existence of a San geomyth about dicynodonts. Here, the La Belle
France site has been visited, the existence of the painted tusked
animal is confirmed, and the presence of tetrapod fossils in its
immediate vicinity is supported. Altogether, they suggest a case of
indigenous palaeontology. The painting is dated between 1821 and
1835, or older, making it at least ten years older than the formal
scientific description of the first dicynodont, Dicynodon
lacerticeps, in 1845. The painting of a dicynodont by the San would
also suggest that they integrated (at least some) fossils into their
belief system.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0309908 >>
be something like modified 'scales' or 'hair' or 'whiskers'.
Some had hair?-a All had hair?-a None had hair?-a What we would know of as >> 'hair' only came into existence in the Triassic?-a Are there any
non-extinct amphibians that have scales that might be similar to
'hair' in
some ways?
We have a very good idea of what they looked like.-a See the entry in Wikipedia.-a On the subject of paleontology Wiki is generally very good,
and very up-to-date.-a The entry even describes the San paintings.-a They were therapsids (like us), but are a stem group, meaning all their descendants died out.-a They probably were endothermic and had hair.
No living amphibian has scales, hair-like or not.
On 5/7/25 7:54 AM, erik simpson wrote:I should have known that, but I didn't.
On 5/7/25 6:34 AM, x wrote:
On 5/5/25 13:21, erik simpson wrote:
The "late stone age turns out to be at 1821-1835.-a If we adopt theSo do we know what dicynodonts looked like?-a What we often 'see'
attitude that the San people of South Africa were at the time living
in the stone age.-a But it's an intriguing story.
"A possible later stone age painting of a dicynodont (Synapsida)
from the South African Karoo"
Abstract
The Horned Serpent panel at La Belle France (Free State Province,
South Africa) was painted by the San at least two hundred years ago.
It pictures, among many other elements, a tusked animal with a head
that resembles that of a dicynodont, the fossils of which are
abundant and conspicuous in the Karoo Basin. This picture also
seemingly relates to a local San myth about large animals that once
roamed southern Africa and are now extinct. This suggests the
existence of a San geomyth about dicynodonts. Here, the La Belle
France site has been visited, the existence of the painted tusked
animal is confirmed, and the presence of tetrapod fossils in its
immediate vicinity is supported. Altogether, they suggest a case of
indigenous palaeontology. The painting is dated between 1821 and
1835, or older, making it at least ten years older than the formal
scientific description of the first dicynodont, Dicynodon
lacerticeps, in 1845. The painting of a dicynodont by the San would
also suggest that they integrated (at least some) fossils into their
belief system.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0309908 >>>
might be something like modified 'scales' or 'hair' or 'whiskers'.
Some had hair?-a All had hair?-a None had hair?-a What we would know of as >>> 'hair' only came into existence in the Triassic?-a Are there any
non-extinct amphibians that have scales that might be similar to
'hair' in
some ways?
We have a very good idea of what they looked like.-a See the entry in
Wikipedia.-a On the subject of paleontology Wiki is generally very
good, and very up-to-date.-a The entry even describes the San
paintings.-a They were therapsids (like us), but are a stem group,
meaning all their descendants died out.-a They probably were
endothermic and had hair.
No living amphibian has scales, hair-like or not.
Dicynodonts are among the world's earliest large herbivores and include Lystrosaurus, one of Wegener's bits of evidence for continental drift.
But you should know that caecilians do have scales, though they're more
like fish scales than reptile scales.
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