African rock art may show an extinct animal that lived millions of years before humans appeared.

In the Karoo Basin of South Africa, a bizarre monster has been painted on a rock wall. Archaeologists have previously wondered if the artwork depicted a mythical creature from the world of fantasy, but new research boldly claims it was inspired by a dicynodont, an extinct species that lived long before humans.

If true, it suggests that the indigenous peoples of South Africa were aware of the prehistoric animal before it was scientifically described.

This painting was created by the San people of South Africa between 1821 and 1835. Called the “Horned Serpent Painting,” the image shows a long-bodied animal with downward-pointing fangs that is inconsistent with any animal living in the area today.

This animal may look like a seahorse at first glance, but these marine mammals live near the North Pole on the other side of the world. Or you might suggest that it is simply a creature from the San “spirit world” – but these forms are almost always inspired by physical reality.

In a new study, julian benoit Scientists from the Institute of Evolutionary Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand say the tusked figure is inspired by a fossil of a dicynodont, a stocky herbivore with downward-pointing tusks that lived in this part of the world until about 200 million years ago.

Many cultures explored the world of fossils before Western scientists did.

julian benoit

There is ample evidence that the San were able to locate and transport prehistoric fossils across vast distances. It would not be surprising if a fossil discovery sparked someone’s imagination and inspired their artwork. In fact, it is claimed that extinct animals often find their way into San culture.

Benoit also explains that the San have many myths about long-extinct megafauna that once roamed the region. The study cites a 1905 account that explains how the San sometimes spoke of their ancestors coming into contact with “monstrous beasts, larger than elephants or hippopotamuses.”

Dicynodonts lived long before humans existed, but this insight shows that the San people were very familiar with extinct animals and a different time before their time.

Delving deeper into the mythology of the San people, Benoit noticed that the tusked life form fit the concept of a “rain animal.”

“Of course at this point it's just speculation, but the fanged animal on the horned serpent painting may have been drawn as a rain animal, which means it may have been involved in [in] “These rituals are like rain-making ceremonies,” Benoit told IFLScience.

“During rainmaking ceremonies, the San people enter a trance and enter the realm of the dead to hunt rain animals and bring rain back to the world of the living. By choosing a species like the dicynodont, which they knew was extinct and therefore dead, they likely hoped that this rain animal would have some increased power to connect the two worlds,” he added.

It is worth noting that the painting of the horned serpent dates back to 1835 at the latest, but the dicynodont was not scientifically described until the 1840s.

Speaking to IFLScience, Benoit said the work of historian Adrienne Mayor has shown how “many cultures Explore the world of fossils Before Western scientists did.

“Pre-colonial Native Americans knew about fossils and interpreted them in different ways, some of which suggest they knew they belonged to long-extinct animals. The San people of southern Africa also collected fossils, as evidenced by the Bulahla rock shelter, where they carried a dinosaur phalanx—which, incidentally, may be the first time a dinosaur bone has ever been discovered,” Benoit notes.

As is often the case in the fields of astronomy and biology, the depth of indigenous knowledge seems to have been greatly underestimated.

The study was published in the journal Plus One.