In 1918, German archaeologist Robert Koldewey, excavator of Babylon, Iraq, observed that the depiction of the fantastical “dragon of Babylon” on the sixth century BCE Ishtar Gate must reference a real animal whose closest relatives would be dinosaurs like the iguanodon. Though ignored within archaeology, Koldewey’s comments were taken up in German-American popular science writer Willy Ley’s “romantic zoology” (1941), then by Bernard Heuvelmans (1955), founding figure in the fringe field of cryptozoology. Their interpretations would ultimately inspire expeditions by the International Society of Cryptozoologists in Central Africa to find the Mokele-Mbembe, a “living dinosaur,” and migrate into Young Earth Creationist and ancient aliens theories. An analysis of Koldewey’s marginal academic observation serves as a means of considering the process of knowledge formation and canonization and the unpredictable life of scholarly ideas.

1918 年，伊拉克巴比伦挖掘机的德国考古学家罗伯特·科尔德威（Robert Koldewey）观察到，公元前 6 世纪伊什塔尔门上对梦幻般的“巴比伦之龙”的描绘必须参考一种真实的动物，其近亲是禽龙等恐龙。虽然在考古学中被忽视，但科尔德威的评论被德裔美国科普作家威利·莱伊的“浪漫动物学”（1941 年）采纳，然后是伯纳德·赫维尔曼斯（Bernard Heuvelmans，1955 年），他是神秘动物学边缘领域的创始人。他们的解释最终将激发国际隐生动物学家协会在中非的探险，以寻找“活恐龙”莫克勒-姆贝贝，并迁移到年轻的地球创造论者和古代外星人理论。