A mythical monster, usually represented as a large reptile with wings and claws, breathing out fire and smoke. (Webster’s New World Dictionary)
There are dragon or serpent monster myths found in practically every culture on Earth (for simplicity, I will refer to serpent monsters as dragons). Usually in these myths, the dragons were capable of great destruction with wind and fire. I have always wondered why dragon myths are so widespread in the world and in this site I will present possible answers to the following questions:
Why haven’t any dragon fossils ever been found?
What were dragons?
Why are there dragon myths in almost all cultures on Earth?
Why haven’t any dragon fossils ever been found?
There are literally thousands of animal fossil species that have been found but there has not been a single dragon fossil ever found! The world is full of dragon myths and this would
suggest that there were an abundance of dragons at some time in history and if so, there should be fossils or some kind of physical evidence. Since there isn’t any physical evidence, the only logical conclusion is that dragons did not exist.What were dragons?
It is quite possible that dragons were comets. So what do dragons and comets have in common? Dragons were depicted as serpents with wings and could fly through the sky. They had a head and a long body. Likewise, comets have a head and a long body and appear to fly through the sky. The chief Mayan god was Kukulkan which literally meant feathered serpent A comet has a long body but the body fans out as if it has feathers. “Feathered serpent”; is a perfect description of a comet. See pictures of comets Hyakutake and Halebopp.
Why are there dragon myths found in almost all cultures on Earth?
In order for dragon legends to be so widespread, there must have been an event that was common to all areas of the Earth. The only thing that looks like a flying serpent, could be seen by every person in the world, and be able to cause global destructive effects would be an impact on the Earth by a comet. If this did happen at some remote time in history, all of the people on Earth would have seen the comet (dragon) moving through the stars and each night it would have gotten bigger and bigger until it had a tail that stretched all the way across the sky.
The sight of this monstrous flying serpent monster must have struck terror in all of the people of Earth. Relatively few people would have witnessed the impact of the comet but soon afterward, the entire Earth would have been bombarded by burning rocks falling from the sky. The sky would have darkened from the smoke of the impact and all of the fires started around the world. The darkness would have lasted for months and the crops everywhere on Earth would have failed. There would have been widespread starvation and disease. Every culture would have experience the terrible after effects of the comet impact. If there had been an advanced civilization at that time, it would have fallen apart as its people were reduced to a hand to mouth existence. Many generations later, the knowledge and culture from the previous civilization would have disappeared but each generation would tell stories about the monstrous flying serpent that caused so much destruction.