Peer-reviewed
On the Earliest Representations of Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): Were African Apes Traded to Bronze Age Elam?
Abstract: There is no literature referring to the ancient iconographic depiction of apes in the eastern circum-Mediterranean region and the Near East. Written reports such as the Old Testament mention apes, but this may be a reference to monkeys, while Hanno the Carthaginian Navigator referred to chimpanzees in the 5th–6th century BC. Here we describe two marble figures, belonging to a private gallery, allegedly from Middle Bronze Age Elam. They represent a “seated monkey” and a “crouched monkey.” Detailed observation and analysis of the morphological characters of both figures show that they almost certainly represent chimpanzees. If the dates and provenance of this material are correct, they are the earliest known representations of African apes. It would follow that chimpanzees were traded, as living animals, as artifacts or imageries, along an extended distance from the Central African forests to the east coast of Africa towards Elam, by the 2nd millennium BC. Alternatively, the figures may date from the Roman period, in which case the circulation of these apes or ape representations occurred centuries later, possibly from other parts of Africa. As these figures are relevant for the archaeoprimatological record, their archeological contexts require further detailed studies. Nevertheless, whether the figures are of Elamite or Roman origin, they are the earliest known representations of chimpanzees
Article, 2020