Associated Press
A collapsed cave filled with the fossilized remains of extinct dwarf hippopotamuses may hold clues about early human activity on the island of Cyprus, according to Cypriot and Greek scientists studying the site.
Recent digs at the cave just outside the resort of Ayia Napa have yielded fossils of an estimated 80 dwarf hippos—descendants of hippos believed to have reached the Mediterranean island about a quarter-million years ago.
Hundreds more may lie beneath an exposed layer of jumbled fossils.
Scientists hope the fossil haul, tentatively dated to 9,000-11,500 B.C., will offer clues about when humans first arrived on the island.
"It's about our origins," said Ioannis Panayides, the Cyprus Geological Survey Department official in charge of the excavations in conjunction with the University of Athens. "Knowledge of our geological history makes us more knowledgeable about ourselves."
In the Past
Before the Ayia Napa discovery, the earliest trace of humans on Cyprus dated to 8,000 B.C. But signs of human activity at the new dig could turn back the clock on the first Cypriots by as much as 3,500 years.
"That's very significant, but we can't be certain yet. The task of examining is laborious and time consuming," said University of Athens Professor George Theodorou, who is tasked with examining some one and a half tons of fossils.
The dwarf hippopotamuses were herbivores, like their modern cousins, but were only about two and a half feet (75 centimeters) tall and four feet (120 centimeters) long.
Unlike modern hippos, whose upturned nostrils seem designed for swimming, Cypriot hippos had low-slung nostrils better suited to foraging on land.
Panayides said the fossils show the Cypriot hippos' legs and feet were also adapted to land, enabling them to stand on their hind legs to reach tree branches.
Experts believe hippos arrived on Cyprus between 100,000 to 250,000 ago and likely got smaller to adapt to the hilly, island landscape. But scientists do not know how the animals reached Cyprus, which is not known to have ever been physically linked to another land mass.
