Occam’s razor revisited: guenon species morphology supports evidence for an African influence in Bronze Age Aegean fresco primate iconography from Akrotiri, Thera

Abstract

In a recent exchange, Pareja et al. (Primates 61: 159–168, 2020a; Primates 61: 767–774, 2020b) and Urbani and Youlatos (Primates, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-020-00825-2, 2020a) dispute the re-interpretation of the primate species depicted in a Bronze Age fresco from Room 6 of Building Complex Beta at Akrotiri, Thera. They review the history of interpretations of this artwork and combine the expertise of scholars that traditionally focus on such research with the scientific expertise of primatologists to reexamine the artwork. Additionally, they emphasize the morphological traits exhibited by these painted primates. We review and expand their list of candidate primates here in a decision table to demonstrate that the African link is better supported by the morphological traits than the Asian one proposed by Pareja et al. (2020a, b). Using such evidence, we show that other guenons of the tribe Cercopithecini, such as L’Hoest’s monkey (Allochrocebus lhoesti) and the Diana monkey (Cercopithecus diana), provide equal support for the African link as the vervet monkey proposed by Urbani and Youlatos (2020a). However, the historical context supports the traditional interpretation that the Akrotiri fresco depicts vervet monkeys from this region. This discourse provides an open forum for scholars in various fields to contribute to an important problem that crosses disciplinary boundaries.