Re: Indian monkey painting on Thera

The Smithsonian Magazine also covered this:

 "Such cosmopolitan behavior probably wasn=E2=80=99t easy, but =E2=80=9Cour=
 ancestors were
interested in rare and exotic things, just as we are,=E2=80=9D Peter Franko=
pan, a
global history expert at Oxford University who wasn=E2=80=99t involved in t=
he
study, tells Whipple. =E2=80=9CLong-distance trade, and connections between=
 the
Mediterranean, Asia and the Indian Ocean are well attested, even in this
period, for high value, expensive objects.=E2=80=9D
A live langur from a far-flung locale would certainly fit that bill.
There=E2=80=99s even evidence from other archaeological finds supporting th=
e idea
that foreign monkeys might have made it to Greece: a fossilized skull
<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.an=
cient.eu%2Farticle%2F673%2Fakrotiri-frescoes%2F&amp;data=3D02%7C01%7CCLASSI=
CS-L%40lsv.uky.edu%7C6c0c15f36d24472e439c08d784e11d70%7C2b30530b69b64457b81=
8481cb53d42ae%7C0%7C0%7C637123974715668853&amp;sdata=3D%2FkgQ2gXZ5Auh1MLrmW=
0BxUeaHqTfp9Vi8JO4ZN%2ByyDI%3D&amp;reserved=3D0> on Thera, for
instance, and an ivory figurine
<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.th=
eaustralian.com.au%2Fnation%2Fcurious-tail-of-monkeys-who-crossed-the-ancie=
nt-world%2Fnews-story%2F0f71bd4708dc3bcfdc4849b6c674c65b&amp;data=3D02%7C01=
%7CCLASSICS-L%40lsv.uky.edu%7C6c0c15f36d24472e439c08d784e11d70%7C2b30530b69=
b64457b818481cb53d42ae%7C0%7C0%7C637123974715668853&amp;sdata=3DqKybQSGdrtB=
%2Fj0Xjmz5zT1LiYNSVUiOhhgHU5VTKKuM%3D&amp;reserved=3D0>
 on Crete. "

No paywall but a lot of advertising:
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.edu%7C6c0c15f36d24472e439c08d784e11d70%7C2b30530b69b64457b818481cb53d42ae%=
7C0%7C0%7C637123974715668853&amp;sdata=3DgQzbfi0P%2FeJdTCfifvWtOCwfAjIpj9mF=
56EhAr53IiM%3D&amp;reserved=3D0



On Fri, 20 Dec 2019 at 04:17, Ralph Hancock <[email protected]> wrote=
:

> From _New Scientist_, issue for 21/28 December 2019. Not sure how much of
> the text is visible to non-subscribers, so I'll give it here. The
> interesting picture should be visible, I think -- see first link below.
>
> -----
>
> A Bronze Age painting on a Greek island shows a monkey from thousands of
> kilometres away in Asia. The finding suggests that ancient cultures
> separated by great distances were trading and exchanging ideas.
>
> The artwork is one of several wall paintings in a building at Akrotiri on
> the Greek island of Thera (Santorini) in the Aegean Sea. Akrotiri was a
> settlement of the Minoan civilisation in Bronze Age Greece that was burie=
d
> by ash from a volcanic eruption in around 1600 BC.
>
> Many of the paintings show monkeys, yet there were no monkeys in Greece a=
t
> the time. Most of the monkeys have been identified as Egyptian species li=
ke
> olive baboons. This makes sense because Egypt was in contact with the
> Minoan civilisation, which was spread across several Aegean islands.
> However, others were harder to identify.
>
> Marie Nicole Pareja at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia
> teamed up with primatologists to re-examine the mystery monkey paintings.
> One stood out. =E2=80=9CWhen they looked at this wall painting, they all =
straight
> away unambiguously said =E2=80=98that=E2=80=99s a langur=E2=80=99,=E2=80=
=9D says Pareja.
>
> The team has identified the monkey as a grey langur (Semnopithecus). As
> well as its distinctive fur, the monkey was depicted holding its tail in =
a
> characteristic S shape.
>
> Grey langurs live in southern Asia in what is now Nepal, Bhutan and India=
 =E2=80=93
> and particularly in the Indus Valley. During the Bronze Age, the region w=
as
> home to the Indus Valley Civilisation, one of the most important societie=
s
> of that time. Although it was past its peak, the Indus Valley Civilisatio=
n
> was still advanced for its time, with large cities and elaborate water
> supply systems.
>
> Somehow, the artist who painted the monkey picture must have seen a grey
> langur. But how?
>
> Did Minoan Greeks visit the Indus? =E2=80=9CI wouldn=E2=80=99t be surpris=
ed if someday in
> the future we found evidence for that kind of direct contact,=E2=80=9D sa=
ys Pareja,
> but right now there is none. It is also possible the visit was the other
> way round, but again there is no evidence.
>
> Instead, it may be that Greece and Indus were connected via Mesopotamia,
> another Bronze Age civilisation centred on what is now Iraq. Langurs may
> have been imported to Mesopotamia for menageries, where visiting Greeks s=
aw
> them.
>
> =E2=80=9CIt=E2=80=99s evidence of this far-reaching trade, these relation=
ships with these
> far-flung areas,=E2=80=9D says Pareja. Even in the Bronze Age, it seems t=
here was a
> lot of exchange between seemingly separate civilisations.
>
> Journal reference: Primates, DOI: 10.1007/s10329-019-00778-1
>
> -----
>
>
> https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.n=
ewscientist.com%2Farticle%2F2227146-ancient-monkey-painting-suggests-bronze=
-age-greeks-travelled-widely%2F&amp;data=3D02%7C01%7CCLASSICS-L%40lsv.uky.e=
du%7C6c0c15f36d24472e439c08d784e11d70%7C2b30530b69b64457b818481cb53d42ae%7C=
0%7C0%7C637123974715668853&amp;sdata=3DwOYnX4P0TyPAjMBs7%2BKsC9%2BOk7fNzPrG=
%2BzPxTbIYbKg%3D&amp;reserved=3D0
>
> -----
>
> My own take on this is that there was already a trade in exotic pets
> brought to the west along what would later be called the Silk Road. We kn=
ow
> that this was already well established considerably later, in the 2nd
> century BC, thanks to the mosaic of the Indian Rose-Ringed Parakeet found
> at Pergamon. (It is a Rose-Ringed Parakeet, not an Alexandrine Parakeet a=
s
> wrongly restored, as can be seen from the surviving portion of the narrow
> pink and black neck ring -- Alexandrines have a broad pink patch here.) S=
ee
> link below.
>
> RH
>
>
> https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.my=
-favourite-planet.de%2Fimages%2Fmiddle-east%2Fturkey%2Fpergamon%2Fberlin-pe=
rgamon-museum_dj-14062009-0266b_palace-floor-mosaic.jpg&amp;data=3D02%7C01%=
7CCLASSICS-L%40lsv.uky.edu%7C6c0c15f36d24472e439c08d784e11d70%7C2b30530b69b=
64457b818481cb53d42ae%7C0%7C0%7C637123974715668853&amp;sdata=3DiJYhWrkmvh8X=
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>