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Message: <blockquote data-quote="911" data-source="post: 1402270" data-attributes="member: 11221">There weren't many sites in Europe that had well-preserved dinosaur skeletons, at least not the big ones, like you have in places like the Gobi desert, Antarctica (which was once a thriving jungle filled with dinosaurs and dense giant fern forests), Africa or in Alberta. This probably explains why there wasn't much paleontology activity before the 18th century.As well, Paleontology was a bit of a useless science in the 17th/18th century, when the top minds in Europe were busy making breakthroughs in chemistry, physics, maths or engineering, and places rich with artifacts like Montana or Wyoming only had a few homesteaders and cowboys who had other priorities besides ancient zoology.</blockquote>