Davidm Witelson News Today

Some explorers believed they had found unicorns depicted on rocks. The truth behind the paintings is far more interesting.

One-horned rain-animal from a site near Indwe in the Eastern Cape province. Image courtesy David M. WitelsonOne-horned creatures are found in myths around the world. Although unicorns in different cultures have little to do with one another, they have multiple associations in European thought. For example, the Roman natural historian Pliny the Elder wrote about unicorns in the first century AD. The unicorn features in both medieval Christian and Celtic beliefs, and is Scotland’s national ...

How real were the unicorns? A new paper looks at how European colonizers misunderstood the reality of the mythical beast in art of indigenous people.