Masseti, M. 1997. Representations of Birds in Minoan art. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 7: 354-363

This paper deals with Crete rather than the Greek mainland, however, in his discussion of Minoan art, Masseti (describing a relief from the Minoan palace of Zakros, dating from about 1650-1500 BC) says,

"Rather than a hawk, one resembles a magpie, Pica pica (L., 1758), but this is unlikely because it is a species unknown to the Quaternary biogeography of Crete."

He quotes the following two references:

Weesie, P. D. M. The Quaternary avifauna of Crete, Greece. Paleovertebrata, 1988; 18: 1-94.

Vallianos, C. Les oiseaux observes en Crete. Biologia Gallo-Hellenica, 1984; 11: 111-127.

Stephanie Vann
PhD Candidate
School of Archaeology and Ancient History
University of Leicester

Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2007 20:52:43 +0100
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [ZOOARCH] magpies
To: [log in to unmask]

Hi,
is there any archaeological evidence of magpies in ancient Greece or the Levante area (for the period of ca. 3000-1500 BPE)?

Clemens

Clemens Lunczer
Fuchshofweg 43
73614 Schorndorf
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phone: +(49)(0)7181 258 288

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