Adrienne Mayor

Episode #381: Dinosaurs and Mythology

Brothers of the SerpentJul 30, 2026

Wildlife management expert and paleontology enthusiast Leah Clane joins the Brothers of the Serpent to explore how ancient peoples may have interpreted dinosaur and megafauna fossils as mythical monsters. The centerpiece is Adrienne Mayor's book The First Fossil Hunters, which argues that the legendary gold-guarding griffin of Scythian lore was inspired by Protoceratops skeletons eroding out of the Gobi Desert. The hosts then weigh a paleontologist's blog rebuttal of the idea, debating whether myths like the griffin, cyclops, and thunderbird could be rooted in real encounters with ancient bones.