Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL, 32224, USA.
Hellenic Ministry of Culture, 106 82, Athens, Greece.
Sci Rep. 2024 Aug 19;14(1):19158. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-68778-w.
Fossils of large animals have long influenced social practices and ideologies in human societies, including the fantastic myths of giants, heroes, and gods in ancient Greece. It has been estimated that purposeful fossil collecting in Greece began in the Late Bronze Age. However, previous archaeological finds of fossils from mainland Greece were not well documented in secure contexts that dated this far back in time. Herein, we present a newly recognized fossilized astragalus bone recently found in the legacy collections of the archaeological site of Mycenae. It was originally recovered by excavations in the 1970s and recently reanalyzed at the Mycenae Museum. Our analysis explored the available evidence of the find location, the state of fossil preservation, and the species represented. The results suggest that a fossilized rhinoceros (Stephanorhinus) astragalus was collected in the past, possibly from afar. Evidence indicates it was brought to Mycenae, where it was deposited near an interesting array of artifacts in a basement storage area of the Southwest Quarter, sometime in the thirteenth century BCE. This find represents the earliest secure evidence of large animal fossil use by people in mainland Greece, dating to the Late Bronze Age.
大型动物的化石长期以来影响着人类社会的社会实践和意识形态，包括古希腊关于巨人、英雄和神灵的奇妙神话。据估计，希腊的有目的的化石采集始于青铜时代晚期。然而，以前在希腊大陆发现的化石在时间上没有被很好地记录在安全的背景下。在此，我们介绍了一个最近在迈锡尼考古遗址的遗产收藏中发现的新认定的化石距骨。它最初是在 20 世纪 70 年代的挖掘中发现的，最近在迈锡尼博物馆进行了重新分析。我们的分析探讨了发现地点的现有证据、化石保存的状况以及所代表的物种。结果表明，过去可能从远处采集了一只已灭绝的犀牛（Stephanorhinus）的距骨化石。有证据表明，它被带到了迈锡尼，在公元前 13 世纪某个时候，被放置在西南 quarter 的地下室储存区的一系列有趣的人工制品附近。这一发现代表了希腊大陆最早的、有可靠证据的大型动物化石被人类使用的例子，可以追溯到青铜时代晚期。
