Archaeoprimatology: TheLongue DuréeInterface Between Humans and Nonhuman Primates

Abstract

Archaeoprimatology explores how humans and nonhuman primates coexisted in the past. This discipline has profound roots in texts of early scholars. Archaeoprimatological research examines the liminality between humans, apes, monkeys, and prosimians deep in time before the rise of the Anthropocene. By exploring the beginning of the relationship between modern Homo sapiens and primates, which possibly dates to approximately 100,000 BCE, I survey the evidence, ranging from portable objects and 2D surfaces with primatomorphic depictions to primate remains at archaeological sites worldwide. For example, an overview of ancient frescoes and mosaics with primate representations reveals that the vast majority of them were rendered in locations where primates were not part of the local fauna. An extensive review of primates in the zooarchaeological record shows as a global pattern that traded primates were usually young individuals and frugivorous/omnivorous species. Local primates yielded at sites of regions they naturally inhabited were mostly hunted. Thus, examining past patterns of the human–nonhuman primate interface provides insight into major questions about human niche construction and primate conservation today.

A Primate on a Fresco from the Mycenaean Acropolis of Tiryns

“…Papageorgiou & Birtacha, 2008;Phillips, 2008aPhillips, , 2008bGreenlaw, 2011;Pareja, 2015Pareja, , 2017Urbani & Youlatos, 2020a,b, 2022 has reported the existence of any Bronze Age frescoes depicting primates from mainland Greece, where the Mycenaean civilization flourished at that time. This is also the case of other works, such as Cline's (1991Cline's ( , 1995 study on the presence of Egyptian primatomorphic objects on Mycenaean sites, Wolfson's (2018) iconographical analysis on 'monkeys and simianesque creatures' from ancient Greece, and Urbani's (2021) recent comprehensive assessment on global archaeoprimatological patterns. Thus, there is a widespread assumption that monkeys were not depicted in Mycenaean frescoes, and, consequently, that the significance of this animal in Mycenaean culture was negligible (Lang, 1969: 104;Immerwahr, 1990: 108, 162, 165;Kontorli-Papadopoulou, 1996: 123;Crowley, 2021: 202).…”

“…After close examination, we propose that it is not only a monkey but most probably a baboon-like primate. In addition, we note that this is the first known fresco representing a primate in mainland Europe, executed almost a millennium before the Etruscan primatomorphic wall-paintings of the fifth to fourth centuries BC in the Italian peninsula (see Urbani, 2021)…”

Simia langobardorum: Were African apes traded in late medieval Lombardy?

“…Depictions of apes (tailless hominoids) by ancient cultures are very rare (Urbani and Youlatos 2020, Urbani, 2021). Earlier historical written accounts of possible encounters with apes are also very limited (Barsanti, 1988, 2009; Groves, 2008; Haikal, 2016; Herzfeld, 2012; Liz‐Ferreira et al, 1945; Martínez‐Contreras, 2005; McDermott, 1938; Morris & Morris, 1966; Schwibbe, 1989; Sept & Brooks, 1994; Veracini, 2021a; Veracini & Casanova, 2016).…”

“…Nonetheless, with the growth of online and digitized resources, the potential for expanding these investigations has increased enormously (Garbino et al 2021; Urbani, 2016, 2019; Urbani and Youlatos 2020; Veracini, 2021b). These resources have also enabled us to explore a large array of ancient depictions of primates in the circum‐Mediterranean region, the Near East, and part of Asia (e.g., Urbani & Youlatos, 2021; Urbani, 2021). In this online context, the images for this study were “discovered.”…”

“…This pictorial investigation should continue as it allows the elucidation of the paths taken by apes and ape-like beings along with their human counterparts in the social and scientific constructions of our Order (i.e., Primates) across the centuries (Haraway, 1989;Moser 1998;Van Reybrouck, 2001;Zacharias, 1980). Moreover, by thoroughly looking at the past, the relevance of such an effort will ultimately help in building more informed and robust plans for the future conservation of all endangered primates (Urbani, 2021). Humboldt Foundation.…”