Thursday, 29 May 2014
Egyptian Kangaroos
One of the common statements made by the fringe theorists about the Kariong Glyphs is the story of Australian kangaroo fossils or bones being dug up in Egypt in 1982 - 84 near Fayum.
This story is told to help bolster the Australia - Egypt connection theories but falls short on being documented anywhere checkable.
It is true that archaeologists found marsupial fossils at Fayum in 1981 and 82 but these were from the Oligocene period which dates them at 20 to 33 million years old , the creature found was related to the possum family and no mention of kangaroos was made in the report that came out in 1984
You can read the announcement of Africa's first marsupial fossil find here
The only mention of kangaroo fossils being found are on the usual Rex Gilroy and other fringe theory websites , they all mention Fayum and the period of 1982 - 84, so it seems that someone has got over excited with the word " marsupial " being mentioned and has embelished the story somewhat.
It is possible that when the find was reported in the Cairo Times the author may have mentioned kangaroos as an example of a marsupial but there are no records available to check.
There are records of Australian kangaroos in Egypt, these and other Australian animals were mascots held by Australian troops in 1914 while camped near the pyramids at Mena camp.
I have posted this famous photo from the Australian War Memorial that shows a kangaroo mascot kept by the 10th Division above.
All mascot animals were reportedly given to the Cairo Zoo before troops left for the Gallipoli campaign.
Conclusion
Marsupial fossils were found at Fayum in 1981 and 1982 , these were the first African marsupial fossils ever discovered.
No reliable record of Australian kangaroo fossils or bones being unearthed in Egypt exists , reports of such on fringe theory websites are unsubstantiated.
Myth * Busted *
Sources
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1380836?uid=3737536&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21104239955093
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v308/n5958/abs/308447a0.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1458784/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10th_Battalion_(Australia)
Labels:
Fringe Theories
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment