- Researchers have excavated and restored the fossilized skull of a Dihoplus pikermiensis rhinoceros, dating to roughly 8.5 million years ago, within the Sitia UNESCO Global Geopark in Crete.
- Professor of Paleontology and Stratigraphy George Iliopoulos and his specialized team from the University of Patras led the excavation and laboratory conservation, in collaboration with the Sitia Geopark and the Municipality of Sitia.
- Unearthed during a survey in the Magantze and Trapeza areas, the half-preserved skull features three intact upper-left molars and matches the age of Sitia’s famous giant Deinotherium, highlighting Crete’s rich Late Miocene ecosystem.
- The find reinforces Sitia’s 300-million-year geological timeline, proving that ancient Crete once shared a diverse terrestrial fauna with Western Eurasia.
Researchers at the Sitia UNESCO Global Geopark have uncovered part of the skull of a large, two-horned rhinoceros that lived in the region about 8 to 8.5 million years ago.
Researchers have provisionally identified the animal as Dihoplus pikermiensis, a species associated with the Late Miocene and the so-called Pikermian fauna of Eurasia.
The discovery was made last March during a paleontological survey in the Magantze and Trapeza areas, carried out by a team from the Laboratory of Paleontology and Stratigraphy at the University of Patras, led by Professor of Paleontology and Stratigraphy George Iliopoulos.
The project is part of a cooperation between the university laboratory, the Sitia UNESCO Global Geopark and the Municipality of Sitia to investigate and highlight the area’s paleontological wealth.
The Skull Survived. Mostly.
Researchers carefully excavated the fossil bones and removed them as a single block from the surrounding sediment before transporting them to the university laboratory for preparation and conservation.
The work has now revealed the most important specimen: part of the skull of a large rhinoceros, including three molars from the left upper jaw.
About half of the skull has survived. Erosion had already destroyed the missing portion before researchers discovered the fossil.
Preliminary examination indicates that the animal was a large, two-horned Dihoplus pikermiensis.
Researchers say the rhinoceros appears to have lived at roughly the same time as the enormous Deinotherium proavum discovered at Agia Fotia, dated to around 8–8.5 million years ago.
So, yes, rhinoceroses and giant relatives of elephants wandered around Sitia millions of years before anyone had the bright idea to build a Minoan palace.
Sitia Was Home to a Surprisingly Rich Prehistoric World
The new fossil adds another piece to an already remarkable paleontological record.
The Sitia UNESCO Global Geopark contains evidence spanning almost 300 million years, from plant remains dating to the Carboniferous through Cretaceous rudists, Miocene megafauna and endemic dwarf mammals from the Pleistocene.
The rhinoceros is particularly interesting because it suggests that Late Miocene Crete supported a substantial terrestrial fauna comparable to that found elsewhere in western Eurasia. And the researchers don’t think this is necessarily the end of the story.
The latest discovery suggests that further work could reveal additional fossils and provide an even clearer picture of what Sitia and Crete looked like millions of years ago.
