Bushmen Cave Paintings of Ornithopod Dinosaurs: Paleolithic Trackers Interpret Early Jurassic Footprints

Abstract

Remnants of Bushmen cave paintings showing representations of dinosaurs evidently reconstructed from footprints, trackways and skeletal remains have been found in Lesotho. This is a region of prolific dinosaur trackways preserved in Lower Jurassic sedimentary rocks, and the Bushman culture is renowned for extraordinary skill in the tracking of modern animals. It is probable that the track and trackmaker representations depict ornithopod dinosaurs. The track drawings are accurate, and the trackmaker representations show that Bushman artists anticipated modern reconstructions of bipedal dinosaurs and produced depictions that are more realistic than many paleontological reconstructions that endured until quite recently.

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