IGUANODON

any member of a genus (Iguanodon) of large herbivorous dinosaurs found as fossils of the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous periods (163 to 97.5 million years ago) in a wide area of Europe, North Africa, and eastern Asia. The iguanodon was the largest, most abundant, and most widespread of all the iguanodonts (family Iguanodontidae). It was more than 10 m (30 feet) long, stood 5 m tall when erect, and weighed 4 to 5 tons. The animal probably spent its time grazing while moving about on four legs, though it could also walk on two legs. The iguanodon's forelimbs had unusual, five-fingered hands; the thumb projected upward perpendicular to the rest of the hand and was rigid, much like a sharp spike. The teeth were ridged and formed sloping surfaces whose grinding action could pulverize the low-growing ferns and horsetails the animal fed upon near streams and rivers. The iguanodon was one of the first dinosaur species to be discovered and was scientifically described in 1825. It was named for its teeth, whose similarity to those of modern iguana lizards also provided the dinosaur's discoverer, the English physician Gideon Mantell, with the first clue that dinosaurs had been reptiles. Standard reconstructions of iguanodon fossil bones mistakenly placed the animal in an upright, bipedal stance with its tail on the ground, a misconception not corrected until late in the 20th century. The fossil remains of many individuals have been found, some in groups, suggesting that the iguanodon traveled in herds. Fossilized tracks and trackways of the iguanodon are also relatively common. Former reconstruction of Iguanodon by Louis Dollo, (1870s) followed by current reconstruction with locomotion by David Norman (1980). Iguvine Tables a set of seven inscribed bronze tables found in 1444 at Iguvium (modern Gubbio, Italy), an Umbrian town. The tables are written in the Umbrian language, four and part of a fifth using the Umbrian script, the rest Latin characters. The earliest appear to date from the 3rd or 2nd century BC, the latest from the early part of the 1st century BC. These tables give the liturgy of the Fratres Atiedii, a brotherhood of priests, and are of great value for the study of ancient Italic language and religion. The first table contains regulations for the purification of the sacred mount or citadel of Iguvium and for the lustration (purification) of the people. Tables six and seven contain essentially the same material as the first, but in greatly expanded form and in somewhat later language. The second, third, and fourth tables describe several different sacrifices, many of the details of which are quite obscure. The fifth table deals with administrative details of the brotherhood and ends with a statement of mutual obligations between the Fratres Atiedii and two of the (originally) 10 divisions of the Iguvine people.