Here’s an interesting take on myths or monsters - contact between the ancients and the truly ancients. Seems reasonable to me but carried a bit too far in the article.
What do you think?
http://www.discovery.com/news/briefs/20000412/history_myths.html
Are you driving with your eyes open or are you using The Force? - A. Foley
The story on the vase seems strange. Surely they knew what skeletons where. Their myths had animals, so why paint a scene showing Hercules attacking a fossil? Instead it should show him fighting their idea of the beast.
I think this would drum up a bit more responses in Great Debates…
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Actually, I don’t think it would get any kind of response in Great Debates. What’s to debate? Whether or not the Discovery Channel specializes in quick, easy, non-original TV-friendly factoids?
I’ve heard this “ancient bones explaining the Cyclops” theory before, from serious paleontologists, anthropologists, folklorists, archeologists, etc., and yeah, it made sense when they all proposed it, and it still makes sense now that it’s been trimmed to fit the Discovery Channel’s unique style.
You do have to admire their chutzpah, the way they have of presenting things as though they personally came up with the theory.
Can you tell I don’t like the Discovery Channel? They can spend 22 minutes and tell you as much information as a NOVA episode will give you just in the beginning teaser.
“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!” - the White Queen
Notthemama, must be my sheltered life style, I’ve never seen the vase before - wish I could get a better view, that they had turned the vase just a little more towards the skull. I am surprised that you didn’t comment on the woman standing closer throwing rocks than the man with spear standing further away… 
Never land alone. J. Winters
They had the same story with the same picture in Science News Feb 26. While some Science News articles are on the net, unfortunately, this one is not. They do give this reference:
Mayor, A. 2000. The ‘Monster of Troy’ vase: The earliest artistic record of a vertebrate fossil discovery? Oxford Journal of Archaeology 19(February):57.
dtilque, Did they give the same kind of information? Were they as speculative?
Are you driving with your eyes open or are you using The Force? - A. Foley
I didn’t keep my copy of that issue. From what I remember, it was pretty much the same info. Both SN and Discover seem to have used the same reference and had the same picture. The picture in SN was larger than the one on the Discover page (at least on my 17-inch monitor).
If you’re really interested, most reasonably sized libraries should have back issues of Science News. A large university library may have the journal with the reference.
I’ve always wondered if there was a corelation between areas rich in dinosaur fossils, like China and England, and cultures with dragon myths, like China and England.
Of course, the US and Canadian west boast many dino fossils, but no myths to my admittedly limited knowledge.
“The dawn of a new era is felt and not measured.” Walter Lord
Warning! Vague & unsubstantiated reference approaching! Medicate yourselves–one grain of salt, taken orally. 
I recall, vaguely , the story of a tribe in the Dakotas, near the Badlands. They worshipped a fossilized skull as a totem.
possibly stolen & later exhibited during the Chicago World’s Fair? 
I know that a fictional story was based on this; but I’m pretty sure it was derived from an actual experience.
“There is no slander in an allowed fool, though he do nothing but rail; nor no railing in a known discreet man, though he do nothing but reprove.”
Countess Olivia to Malvolio; William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Act 1, Scene 5.