THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONTEXT IN DINOSAUR PALEONTOLOGY

Perceptions of dinosaur anatomy, behavior, and ecology are strongly conditioned on prevailing social and political climates. This is exemplified by the evolution of ideas about Tyrannosaurus rex, dinosaurs and maternity, and dinosaur extinction. In the case of T. rex, the turn-of-the century imperialistic context into which it was first introduced emphasized ideas of power, cultural hegemony, and domination. The dinosaur was initially conceived as a solitary, dominating force in Mesozoic terrestrial landscapes.

Such perceptions radically altered as the social and political upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s took their course and changed not only paleontologists’ views of their relationship to society, but also their views of their role in their science. With increasing validation of the varying roles of women and the importance of the family in society, socialized, active dinosaur “families,” led by females (even tyrannosaurs) became conceivable. By the same token, while in the 1930s, Protoceratops eggs were supposed interesting because of their antiquity, by the 1980s it was clear that J.R. Horner’s inference of maternal care in dinosaurs resonated strongly because of their 20th century-style humanization.

As societal values were invested into perceptions of dinosaur behavior, so cold-war fears were mapped onto the K/T extinction event. The proposed deus ex machina K/T ending looked similar to apocalyptic post-nuclear scenarios – so much so that the term “nuclear winter” was applied to the extinction. This attained near-absurdity when a movie (Star Wars) inspired a national cold-war defense system as well as a hypothesized companion star to the sun (“death star”) said to have caused the K/T asteroid.

It is probably not correct to characterize dinosaur paleontology as one suite of social and political agendas supplanting another, but it is fair to state that social and political agendas play a large role in the development of ideas about dinosaurs and their world. The broad, humanistic world view of Bob Dott encouraged the identification of social and historical context; a unique and treasured perspective for which I will always be grateful.