Researchers find 8.5-million-year-old rhino skull in Sitia UNESCO Global Geopark
A team from the University of Patras has identified the fossilized skull of a large rhinoceros, dated to roughly 8 to 8.5 million years old, discovered in the Sitia UNESCO Global Geopark in eastern Crete.
The discovery was made in March by researchers from the Laboratory of Paleontology and Stratigraphy at the University of Patras’ Department of Geology, led by Professor of Paleontology and Stratigraphy Georgios Iliopoulos. The team was conducting a paleontological survey in the Magantze and Trapeza areas as part of a collaboration with the Sitia UNESCO Global Geopark and the Municipality of Sitia aimed at documenting the geopark’s fossil record, according to the researchers.
The bones were carefully excavated and removed from the sediment as a single block, then packaged and transported to the university’s Paleontology and Stratigraphy laboratory for cleaning and conservation.
Skull identified as two-horned rhino species
Following the recent completion of that preparation work, the main specimen recovered was found to be the skull of a large rhinoceros. Roughly half of the skull has survived, with the missing portion already destroyed by erosion prior to discovery; three molars from the left upper jaw are preserved in the surviving section, the researchers said.
A preliminary study of the skull indicates it belongs to a large, two-horned rhinoceros of the species Dihoplus pikermiensis. According to the research team, this species lived across Western Eurasia during the Upper Miocene and is a typical representative of the odd-toed ungulates of the Pikermian fauna. The specimen appears to be roughly the same age as the giant Deinotherium proavum found at Agia Fotia, at 8 to 8.5 million years old.
Adds to geopark’s fossil record
The researchers said the find adds to the paleontological record of the Sitia UNESCO Global Geopark, whose documented fossil history spans nearly 300 million years, from Carboniferous plant remains and Cretaceous rudists to the giant Miocene Deinotherium and dwarf endemic mammals of the Pleistocene. According to the team, the discovery indicates that Sitia and Crete more broadly hosted a significant terrestrial fauna during the Upper Miocene similar to that of Western Eurasia, and they expect further significant finds to emerge from the region in the future.
The excavation and conservation of the Dihoplus pikermiensis specimen involved Professor Georgios Iliopoulos, Dr. Penelope Papadopoulou, Dr. Irena Pappa, and doctoral candidate Dimitra Valavani.
The Sitia UNESCO Global Geopark is among the destinations that visitors can explore among experiences in Crete, alongside other protected natural and geological places in Crete.
