The 'Great bubalus' in ancient African rock art
Submitted by coldrum on Thursday, 05 May 2011 Page Views: 2986
Rock ArtAmong the most spectacular of extinct bovids is the Plio-Pleistocene African form Pelorovis, famous for its gigantic curved horns. These can span 3 m in fossil skulls, and were certainly even longer in the living animal. Pelorovis was built rather like a gigantic, long-horned version of the living Cape buffalo Syncerus caffer, but differed from it in horn shape, and having a longer,, more antelope-like face.There is possibly evidence from archaeological specimens and rock art to indicate that it survived much later than previously thought: well into the Holocene, and perhaps to as recently as 4000 years ago.
I find the rock art particularly interesting. Various depictions of large, long-horned cattle found across Africa have often been identified as representations of S. antiquus. During the early decades of the 20th century, these illustrations were thought to characterise an ancient stage in African cultural development termed the 'Bubaline period'. 'Bubaline' is a reference to Bubalus, the name for Asian water buffaloes, and S. antiquus was sometimes known as the 'Great bubalus' in the early 20th century. Read the full article at Science Blogs
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