UCF Professor Featured in History Channel Show About Dragons
by Chad Binette (407-823-6312, cbinette@mail.ucf.edu)

ORLANDO, August 2, 2005 -- The mythologies of most cultures in the world include evil dragons -- gigantic, flying reptiles with huge teeth and fierce talons that terrify people.

A new television documentary featuring University of Central Florida anthropology professor David E. Jones explores how similar images of a creature that is not real have been adopted by many cultures over several continents and hundreds of years. "Quest for Dragons" will air at 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4, and at noon Sunday, Aug. 7, on The History Channel.  

Jones appears frequently in the two-hour show produced and written by Phil Frank.

"Dr. Jones has studied hundreds of cultures around the world, so he's a great source to compare how people envision their dragons, what they believed about their dragons and how dragons affected people's lives," Frank said.

Jones, the author of An Instinct for Dragons, teaches cultural anthropology and religion classes at UCF. He began studying dragons about 15 years ago, and his book was published in 2001.

"This flight-capable reptile with wings is known everywhere in the world, but it never existed," he said. "How could it be that everybody knows about something that never existed?"

Jones said he believes the images of dragons represent a combination of three predators of human ancestors: large snakes, birds and big cats. He reached that conclusion when he saw photographs of the three predators while reading a book about ancient vervet monkeys.

Even though humans have evolved since then, dragon images remain similar, Jones said. A fear of snakes has persisted in societies around the world, even in countries where there are no snakes, he said.

Jones's other books include Women Warriors: A History, a history of women in battles throughout world history; Martial Arts Training in Japan, a cultural description of martial arts in Japan; and Evil in Our Midst: A Chilling Glimpse of Our Most Feared and Frightening Demons, a collection of stories about 50 demons that represent various cultures' worst fears.

Jones also wrote Native North American Armor, Shields and Fortifications, which was published last year, and expects Biochemical Warfare of the North American Indians to be published in the fall. Both of those books show how the Native Americans used much more sophisticated weapons than what is depicted in most books and movies.

DATE POSTED
August 2, 2005

CONTACT
David Jones
407-823-2207
dejones@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu

Chad Binette
407-823-6312
cbinette@mail.ucf.edu

DOWNLOADS
(none)

LINKS
History Channel
UCF Anthropology Department