MOSAIC MYSTERY
South American macaw seen in Ancient Rome?
My grateful thanks to Brazil-based Facebook friend and parrot aficionado Rafael Nascimento for kindly bringing to my attention a most intriguing Roman marble mosaic panel decorated with depictions of birds and dating from around the second century AD, sold at auction on 11 December 2003 by Christie’s for the princely sum of US$107,550. It had belonged to an unnamed private collector since about 1980. What is so intriguing from a zoological standpoint, never to my knowledge previously pointed out in print, is that it clearly depicts a blueand-yellow macaw, Ara ararauna. This is a readily recognisable parrot species native to South America – a continent whose very existence (let alone that of its indigenous fauna) was not discovered by the West for another 1,300 years.
So how can this anachronistic anomaly be explained? It is remotely conceivable that the panel has been partially reconstituted in modern times, with a South American macaw erroneously added rather than an African parrot. Yet judging from the photograph, it doesn’t appear reconstituted in any way – and even if it had been, this would surely have been alluded to in its description. Nevertheless, if we assume that it has not been reconstituted, and that it is neither a fake nor has been misidentified, then we must also assume that the macaw’s depiction indicates that Romans were trading with South
America many centuries before this continent was known to Europe.
Worth noting, incidentally, is that whoever wrote the description for Christie’s was not well-versed in ornithology, because what they refer to as a pileated woodpecker is actually a hoopoe, what they call a greenfinch is a European roller, and what they term a chaffinch is a goldfinch! Let us hope, therefore, that their dating and authentication were more accurate.
www.christies.com/lot/lot-a-romanmarble-mosaic-panel-circa-2nd-4205444, 11 Dec 2003; Rafael Nascimento, Facebook comm., 12 Feb 2021.
MAJOR PERIODICALS ONLINE
When the International Society of Cryptozoology (ISC), the first scientific society devoted to the formal study of mystery animals, folded during the 1990s, one of the inevitable outcomes was that its peer-reviewed scientific journal Cryptozoology and its informal ISC Newsletter ceased publication. Since then, it has become increasingly difficult to purchase copies of any of the former’s 13 volumes and the latter’s 46 issues, with examples only rarely appearing for sale in online book stores and auction sites, and always commanding high prices. As a result, many members of today’s generation of cryptozoologists have never had access to these exceedingly valuable, scientifically significant publications. Happily, this tragic situation has been rectified by
London-based Isaac Koi, who, after obtaining permission from Prof. Christine Janis, the last Acting President of the ISC, has digitised – and in February 2021 has uploaded online – complete, searchable versions of the entire runs for both journal and newsletter, which can be downloaded and used free of charge. He has also done the same for three other famous cryptozoological periodicals – Rip Hepple’s Nessletter, Mark Opsasnick’s Bigfoot Abstract, and George Haas’s Bigfoot Bulletin – and has mentioned at least two notable American fortean periodicals that he hopes to do the same with in due course. Fingers crossed!
Meanwhile, here are the links to the five mentioned above:
http://files.afu.se/Downloads/ Magazines/United%20States/ Cryptozoology%20(ISC) Cryptozoology
http://files.afu.se/Downloads/ Magazines/United%20States/ISC%20 Newsletters%20(ISC)/ ISC Newsletter
http://files.afu.se/Downloads/ Magazines/United%20States/ Bigfoot%20Abstract%20(Mark%20 Opsasnick)/ Bigfoot Abstract
http://files.afu.se/Downloads/ Magazines/United%20States/ Bigfoot%20Bulletin%20(George%20 Haas)/ Bigfoot Bulletin
http://files.afu.se/Downloads/ Magazines/United%20Kingdom/ Nessletter%20(Rip%20Hepple,%20 Ness%20Information%20Service)/ Nessletter