At 01:07 2004-07-09, you wrote:
I know there are a number of records from the Balkans north to southern
Ukraine and Hungary though unfortunately I don't have the references at
hand. Recently lions have also been reported from the early Holocene of
Tuscany, Italy (Boschian, G. Mallegni, F. & Tozzi, C. 1995. The
Epigravettian and Mesolithic site of Fredian Shelter (in Tuscany).
Quaternaria Nova. 5: 45-80).
As for Herodotos' reference mentioned in an earlier letter, it is found in
Book VIII of The Histories where Herodotos says that lions are only found
between the rivers Nestus and Achelous and nowhere else in Europe. Nestus
mouth is just north of Thasos in Thracia while Achelous' mouth is on the
west coast just north of the Corinthian Gulf, so apparently there were
still lions in much of what is now northern Greece in Herodotos'
time. During the mycenaean age (Bronze age) there were probably lions even
in Peloponessos Greece to judge from their frequent occurrence in mycenaean
art.
Tommy Tyrberg
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