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This timeline is a summary of dragons in history. It covers dragon events in mythology and modern times. You will not learn everything there is to know about dragons from this timeline, but it will give you a starting point. Dates from early history are only approximate. Some non-dragon events are provided to help place things in context.
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Early History (Pre 9000BC) - Most humans were hunter-gatherers. Dragons probably appeared in similar stories to those told by hunter-gatherers today. Without recorded history at this point, there is little evidence either way. |
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Early Civilisations (9000BC - 0) - More humans settle into farming communities. Writing is invented. This is for practical purposes at first, but starts to be used to record religious stories |
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Later Civilisations (1AD - 1450AD) - Writing is well developed at this point. Recording history and folklore becomes increasingly common. Dragon stories still tend to religious or folkloric (they are stories people believe to be true). |
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Modern Era (1450AD and Beyond) - Technology improves, allowing stories to be more easily recorded and distributed. Dragon stories created purely for entertainment start to become very popular. |
Early History (Pre 9000BC)
It is important to understand that for most of human history nothing was written down. A lot would have happened in this time. There is simply a lack of evidence about what did happen. Humans did paint pictures in caves and some of these have survived to the modern day. The problem is that they only record a tiny fraction of the lives of these people. There would have been many stories and traditions that were never recorded in art.
This means that early humans could have been telling dragon stories. Stories from this era could have travelled with the migrating humans, adapting and changing in each culture. The best clue to what stories might have been told come from modern hunter-gatherer tribes.
| Time | Events / Notes |
|---|---|
| 30,000 - 25,000 | Rock Art Begins - Some of the earliest cave paintings are from this time. |
| 10,000 BC | Oldest Dated Aboriginee Story - The Australian Aborignees are considered
to be the oldest continuing culture on Earth. Stories of the Rainbow Serpent are
found throughout Australia. These stories are not passed on through writing, but
through people telling each other the stories. This leads to the question, how old
are these stories?
It is hard to date a story being passed on this way, but it is not always impossible. Researchers managed to date a Ngadjonji story that decribed the formation of local volcanic lakes. The lakes could be tested and a date verified for their formation. This places the story at around 10,000 BC. The volcano was formed due to the Rainbow Serpent being angered, making this the oldest dated dragon myth at the moment. Dragon Stone Pages: Rainbow Serpent |
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Early Civilisations (9000BC - 0)
| Time | Events / Notes |
|---|---|
| 9000 BC | Early Writing - Early forms of writing appear in the fertile crescent. |
| 3500 BC | Sumerian Writing - Sumerian writing begins. Sumeria is the
origin of the dragon Zu (Anzu).
Dragon Stone Pages: Anzu |
| 3300 - 3100 BC | Ancient Egyptian Writing - The Egyptians began to write. There is some debate
about whether it was the Sumerians or Egyptians who started writing first. Egyptian stories
include Apep, the serpent who tries to swallow the solar barque.
Dragon Stone Pages: Apep |
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Later Civilisations (1AD - 1450AD)
| Time | Events / Notes |
|---|---|
| 565 AD | Loch Ness Monster Sighted - The first recorded sighting of
Nessie was by Saint Columba.
Dragon Stone Pages: Sea Serpent Sightings: Nessie |
| Soon after 781 - 783 AD | Mount Muro Shrine Built - A shrine was build at Mount Muro (Japan) to
the dragon king Zennyo.
Dragon Stone Pages: Zennyo |
| 1181 - 1218 AD | Cambodia Muchilinda - Jayavarman VII popularises the Muchilinda Buddha in Cambodia.
Dragon Stone Pages: Muchilinda (Cambodia) |
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Modern Era (1450AD and Beyond)
The printing press was invented in 1450, allowing text to be printed at rapid speeds. Information could be recorded quickly and easily. More people were learning to read and write, giving a market for selling this new information. The impact went beyond recording ancient mythology. A lot of monster sightings, which previously may have been lost, were recorded by newspapers. New stories were written for entertainment.
| Time | Events / Notes |
|---|---|
| 1450 | Printing Press Invented - At around this time, the printing press was invented by Johannes Gutenberg. |
| 1658 | The History of Four-Footed Beasts and Serpents - Edward Topsell's book 'The History of Four-Footed Beasts and Serpents' was published, covering a number of mythical dragons among the animals. This was a reprint of the earlier books 'The History of Four-footed Beasts' (1607) and 'The History of Serpents' (1608). |
| 1867 | Lambton Worm Folksong Written - The story of the Lambton worm is recorded
in a song written by C. M. Leumane.
Dragon Stone Pages: The Lambton Worm (Folksong) |
| 1962 | Puff the Magic Dragon - Puff the Magic Dragon was released as
a song by Peter, Paul and Mary.
Dragon Stone Pages: Puff the Magic Dragon Lyrics |
| 1967 | 'Weyr Search' Published - ANALOG magazine published a
short story called 'Weyr Search' by Anne McCaffrey. This led to the
publication of the Dragonriders of Pern series.
Dragon Stone Pages: Pernese Dragon List |
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