The Greek Monkey Mystery: An Important Clue to Bronze Age World

Detail from the “Blue Monkeys” fresco astatine Akrotiri paintings, Santorini. Credit: Zde/ Wikimedia Commons/ CC BY-SA 4.0

Ancient frescoes similar that of the Greek monkeys connected Santorini suggest Europe and southbound Asia had commercialized links arsenic agelong arsenic 3,600 years ago. 

By Tracie McKinney & Marie Nicole Pareja Cummings

The blue monkeys painted connected the walls of Akrotiri connected the Greek land of Santorini are among galore animals recovered successful the frescoes of this 3,600-year-old city. Historians person studied the murals for decades since they were unearthed successful the 1960s and 1970s connected the island, which was erstwhile known arsenic Thera. But erstwhile we and a squad of different primatologists precocious examined the paintings, we realized the monkeys could supply a hint that the Bronze Age satellite was overmuch much globalized than antecedently thought.

Archaeologists had assumed the monkeys were an African taxon with which the Aegeans who built Akrotiri astir apt came into interaction via commercialized links with Egypt. However, we deliberation the paintings really picture Hanuman langurs, a taxon from the Indian subcontinent. This suggests the Aegeans, who came from Crete and the Cycladic islands successful the Aegean Sea, whitethorn person had commercialized routes that reached implicit 2,500 miles.

The wall paintings of Akrotiri were preserved by ash from a volcano that destroyed the metropolis immoderate clip successful the 16th oregon 15th period BC and connection an unthinkable glimpse of an aboriginal civilization successful Europe. We haven’t been capable to construe the earliest Aegean writing, but the paintings suggest conscionable however developed these people’s society, economy, and civilization were.

Much carnal creation from this play is generalized, meaning it’s hard to confidently place idiosyncratic species. In the lawsuit of the monkeys, we besides don’t person immoderate carnal remains from Aegean settlements to supply further grounds of which taxon are depicted.

The crushed wherefore archaeologists and creation historians person assumed they came from Egypt is due to the fact that that was the nearest determination with an indigenous monkey colonisation that had known commercialized links with the Aegean. As a result, the Akrotiri monkeys person been variously identified arsenic baboons, vervets, and grivet monkeys, each African taxon that unrecorded crossed a wide area.

Marie Pareja decided to instrumentality a antithetic approach, gathering a squad of primatologists who survey apes, monkeys, and lemurs, including renowned taxonomic illustrator, Stephen Nash. Together, we examined photos of the creation and discussed the animals depicted, considering not lone fur colour and signifier but besides assemblage size, limb proportions, sitting and lasting postures, and process position. While we each agreed that immoderate of the animals depicted were baboons, arsenic antecedently thought, we began to statement the recognition of the animals from 1 peculiar scene.

Identifying the langurs of the Greeks’ monkeys

The monkeys successful the paintings are grey-blue, but though immoderate surviving monkeys person tiny patches of bluish skin—the bluish connected a mandrill’s face, for example—none person bluish fur. There is an African wood monkey called the bluish monkey, but it is chiefly olive oregon acheronian grey, and the look patterns don’t lucifer those successful the paintings. So we needed to usage different characteristics to place them.

They were antecedently believed to beryllium vervets oregon grivets, tiny monkeys weighing betwixt 3kg and 8kg (roughly the size of a housecat) that are recovered successful the savannas of northbound and eastbound Africa. Despite their silvery-white fur, they besides person dark-colored hands and feet and an wide look that matches the depictions successful the paintings.

However, Hanuman langurs, which measurement a much important 11 kg to 18 kg, person a akin look. They besides determination rather differently, and this was important to the identification.

Both primates chiefly unrecorded connected the crushed (as opposed to successful trees) and person agelong limbs and tails. But the langurs thin to transportation their process upward, arsenic an S- oregon C-shape oregon curving towards the caput portion vervets transportation their process successful a consecutive enactment oregon arcing downward. This process position, repeated crossed aggregate images, was a cardinal origin successful identifying the monkeys arsenic Hanuman langurs.

International links

We cognize from archaeological grounds that Aegean peoples had entree to minerals specified arsenic tin, lapis lazuli, and carnelian that came from beyond the Zagros mountains connected the occidental borderline of modern Iran. But the creator item of the Akrotiri paintings, compared to different monkey creation of the period, suggests that artists had seen unrecorded animals, possibly portion traveling abroad.

It’s understandable that earlier scholars thought the monkeys were African since relations betwixt the Aegean and Egypt were already well-known and supported by archaeological evidence. If you expect to find an African monkey, you volition lone look astatine African animals for imaginable explanations. But arsenic primatologists, we were capable to bring a caller look astatine the grounds without preconceived notions of past peoples oregon commercialized routes and see taxon surviving further afield.

This survey is an fantabulous illustration of the value of academics from antithetic disciplines moving together. Without the expertise of primatologists, it whitethorn not person been imaginable to confidently place these animals. Conversely, primatologists whitethorn not person considered these past human-primate interactions without a punctual from archaeologists.

Tracie McKinney is simply a Senior Lecturer successful Human Biology, University of South Wales.

Marie Nicole Pareja Cummings is simply a Consulting Scholar, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania.

This nonfiction was published in The Conversation and is republished nether a Creative Commons License.