An 8 to 8.5 million-year-old rhinoceros skull has been discovered within Crete's Sitia Geopark, part of the UNESCO Global Geoparks Network, offering fresh insight into the island's deep paleontological record.
The fossil, found during a survey of the Magantze and Trapeza areas inside the geopark, has been identified as belonging to Dihoplus pikermiensis, a two-horned rhinoceros species that roamed Eurasia during the Late Miocene. It emerged from a newly discovered fossil-bearing site containing numerous additional bones.
Research was led by George Iliopoulos, professor of paleontology and stratigraphy at the University of Patras, alongside a team from the university's Laboratory of Paleontology and Stratigraphy.
The fossils were transported to the university's laboratory for cleaning and conservation, where further examination confirmed the skull's identity based on its morphological characteristics.
Mr. Iliopoulos said the species belongs to the so-called Pikermian Fauna, a collection of Late Miocene fossils found across Eurasia, with similar remains previously documented at Pikermi in Attica. He told Greece's ANA-MPA news agency the rhino dates to roughly the same period as a giant Deinotherium proavum skeleton previously discovered at Agia Fotia in Sitia.
Mr. Iliopoulos highlighted the Sitia Geopark's geological record, which spans nearly 300 million years, encompassing everything from Carboniferous plant fossils and Cretaceous rudists to Miocene-era Deinotherium remains and dwarf mammals from the Pleistocene. He noted the rhino fossil's unusual proximity to the coastline and suggested it could signal further significant discoveries in the area.
Research is expected to continue with support from the Sitia Geopark and the Municipality of Sitia. Mr. Iliopoulos's team also included Penelope Papadopoulou, Irena Pappa, Dimitra Valavani, Benoit Ficart and Thomas Beard.