Cyclops? Or Elephant precursor

January 21, 2003 12:30 PM

Did Noman find it? Scientists on the Greek isle of Crete have found what could prove to be a "cyclops". Truly, it is a creature whose skeleton has been found in pieces, and there is a significant hole in the skull for the opening to the trunk, which people many, many years ago might have "invented" the stories of what this creature was when they found its remains. That is, if you don't believe that the stories brought to us through spoken word and attributed to the blind man, Homer...
posted by djspicerack (10 comments total)

Man, my fourth grade teacher must have been a smart one... I remember her teaching us about this 15 years ago.
posted by Espoo2 at 12:41 PM on January 21, 2003

Were you in Mrs. Rall's class? She tought us about this too... 16 years ago.
posted by maniactown at 12:49 PM on January 21, 2003

"...there is a significant hole in the skull..."

"Unfortunately we didn’t find the skull, which is very important. This would gives us a lot of information, he said."

*double take*

So, did he or didn't he?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 12:54 PM on January 21, 2003

Aargh.
posted by Shane at 12:55 PM on January 21, 2003

So, did he or didn't he?

He found the hole, but not the skull.
posted by found missing at 1:08 PM on January 21, 2003

Silly muggles.
posted by blue_beetle at 2:49 PM on January 21, 2003

According to this (pdf) dwarf elephant bones found on the island of Cyprus were first reported to science in 1904. It's estimated that adults would have weighed 200 kg - small for an elephant, but large enough to still leave a very large skull with a hole in the middle of it. It's thought that they survived to 'protohistorial times' - at least 9000 BC.
posted by Jos Bleau at 2:56 PM on January 21, 2003

Can't any skilled MeFi'er come up with an IraqWarFilter digest site ala the way Alterslash.org does for /.?

Same great taste with less aftertase.

Sorry, I have no tech skill, so I can't help.

Till then -

I think that I shall never see
A poem as lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of Robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

Joyce Kilmer
posted by Jos Bleau at 6:18 PM on January 21, 2003

Sorry, wrong thread on that last one! Oh, I'm so lost ...
posted by Jos Bleau at 6:20 PM on January 21, 2003

Jos Bleau: This article was about Deinotherium gigantissimum which was a huge (5 m. tall) animal... The dwarf elephants on the other hand were very small. The island of Tilos is, it seems, the location with the best preserved and most abundant of dwarf elephant fossils.
posted by talos at 6:37 AM on January 22, 2003