1 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:06,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain stuff from how stuff works, Hey, brain 2 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:10,560 Speaker 1: Stuff lorn vogelbamb here. In the nineteen twenties, archaeologists in 3 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:14,640 Speaker 1: South Asia unearthed remnants of the Indus Valley civilization. It 4 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:17,639 Speaker 1: was a thriving advanced culture in present day Pakistan and 5 00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:21,360 Speaker 1: India that disappeared around nine b c. E. Among its 6 00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:25,000 Speaker 1: artifacts are seal stones, which are tablets inscribed with symbols 7 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:28,520 Speaker 1: and drawings. The Indus Script, which has yet to be cracked, 8 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:32,920 Speaker 1: but least one etching, is easily identified. A four legged 9 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:36,519 Speaker 1: animal with a single spiral horn protruding from its forehead, 10 00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:40,440 Speaker 1: The Indus unicorn isn't the creature of modern fairy tales. 11 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:42,720 Speaker 1: It looks a lot like a single horned bulb that 12 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:45,959 Speaker 1: some suggest it's actually a regular two horned bull. Depicted 13 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:49,880 Speaker 1: in profile, the horn is usually curved to some degree, 14 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:53,200 Speaker 1: and the hoofs and tail are bovine. The carvings show 15 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:55,440 Speaker 1: folds of skin along the face and throat, and a 16 00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:58,800 Speaker 1: snout that is sometimes shortened square and other times almost 17 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:03,200 Speaker 1: lama like, and it does slightly resemble an extinct bull 18 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:06,959 Speaker 1: like single horned creature called the Siberian unicorn, but whether 19 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:10,039 Speaker 1: it's based in myth or reality the last unicorn, it 20 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:13,880 Speaker 1: is not, but neither is it the least graceful unicorn 21 00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:19,080 Speaker 1: in history. Around three, Italian explorer Marco Polo described seeing 22 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:21,399 Speaker 1: an animal with the head of a wild boar, the 23 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:23,920 Speaker 1: hair of a buffalo, the feet of an elephant, and 24 00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:27,880 Speaker 1: a long black horn. A few early versions of the 25 00:01:27,959 --> 00:01:31,399 Speaker 1: unicorn resemble the luminous horse like beings of modern myth. 26 00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:34,640 Speaker 1: Descriptions of the creature go back thousands of years in folklore, 27 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:38,199 Speaker 1: both Asian and European, as well as in naturalist catalogs 28 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:41,560 Speaker 1: and by some Christian translations the Bible. All of these 29 00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:44,559 Speaker 1: unicorns have a single horn, four legs, and a tail, 30 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:49,240 Speaker 1: and that's about it for universal characteristics or near universal. 31 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:51,920 Speaker 1: One Indian myth tells of a unicorn boy, the son 32 00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:54,600 Speaker 1: of a human, and a one horned antelope, but that's 33 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:58,480 Speaker 1: now liar. The unicorn myth may have originated in sightings 34 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:01,920 Speaker 1: or reports of exotic animals like the rhinoceros or Narwall's, 35 00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:05,480 Speaker 1: or of typically two horned animals that were just missing one. 36 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:09,160 Speaker 1: The American Museum of Natural History hypothesizes that Marco Polo's 37 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:13,799 Speaker 1: unicorn was a Sumatran rhinoceros native to Southeast Asia. A 38 00:02:13,919 --> 00:02:17,000 Speaker 1: Roman naturalist planted the Elder who described unicorns around sev 39 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:22,400 Speaker 1: may have been describing the Indian rhinoceros. Early Asian unicorns 40 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:26,239 Speaker 1: varied widely in physical appearance. In Chinese and Japanese folklore, 41 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:29,880 Speaker 1: the unicorn often has a scaly or multicolored coat, a 42 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:32,480 Speaker 1: flesh covered horn, the body of a deer, and the 43 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:35,280 Speaker 1: tail of an ox. The head was sometimes dragon like. 44 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:39,359 Speaker 1: In some myths, it's a harmless, solitary creature whose presence 45 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:44,000 Speaker 1: portends good. In others, it portends death, and the Japanese 46 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:47,800 Speaker 1: unicorn has the mystical ability to detect evil doers, and 47 00:02:47,880 --> 00:02:52,120 Speaker 1: upon detection, drives its horn through their hearts. Persian myths 48 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:56,040 Speaker 1: describe a unicorn with three hooves on each leg, varying legends, 49 00:02:56,080 --> 00:02:59,799 Speaker 1: painted as a shape shifter, a ferocious warrior resembling a rhinoceros, 50 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: or a peaceful deer like creature. It can purify water 51 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:06,440 Speaker 1: by dipping its horn into the liquid, at which point 52 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:10,680 Speaker 1: all female creatures in the vicinity become pregnant. Versions of 53 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:14,840 Speaker 1: European unicorns have a similar purification ability. Their horns were 54 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:18,239 Speaker 1: said to detect and counteract poisons by contact. The no 55 00:03:18,440 --> 00:03:22,000 Speaker 1: resulting pregnancies are reported there. The horn was also thought 56 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:25,240 Speaker 1: to heal and protect from disease. Beliefs like this led 57 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:28,079 Speaker 1: to a strong European market for unicorn horns, and in 58 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:31,799 Speaker 1: the Middle Ages, opportunistic sailors started selling narwhal tusks as 59 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:35,080 Speaker 1: unicorn horns. Before that, according to the American Museum of 60 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:39,520 Speaker 1: Natural History, European unicorns often had stubby or colored horns, 61 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:42,520 Speaker 1: but after that the horns were long, white and spiraled 62 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:46,840 Speaker 1: like a narwhal tusk. Western unicorn mythology brings us somewhat 63 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:51,040 Speaker 1: closer to the modern myth. European unicorns often have white coats, 64 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:53,360 Speaker 1: a horse's body, the hoofs and beard of a goat, 65 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:56,400 Speaker 1: and the tail of a lion. These unicorns are nearly 66 00:03:56,440 --> 00:04:00,960 Speaker 1: impossible to catch, a trait credited to strength or general lusiveness, 67 00:04:00,960 --> 00:04:04,040 Speaker 1: but they do have a weakness. A virgin woman can 68 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:07,200 Speaker 1: lower the European unicorn into the open. She seems to 69 00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:09,120 Speaker 1: entrance the creature, who may lay its head in her 70 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:12,280 Speaker 1: lap by some accounts, suckle at her breast, leaving itself 71 00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:16,360 Speaker 1: vulnerable to capture by hunters waiting out of sight. This 72 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:19,920 Speaker 1: association with the Virgin, along with reported biblical mentions and 73 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:23,240 Speaker 1: the abilities to heal and counteract poison, led the medieval 74 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:25,920 Speaker 1: Christian Church to cast the unicorn as a christ figure. 75 00:04:26,480 --> 00:04:30,040 Speaker 1: The creature thus increasingly came to represent purity and nobility, 76 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:35,200 Speaker 1: likely contributing to modern representations of the unicorn as benevolent, regal, graceful, 77 00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 1: and white. How it became the sparkly, smiling creature of 78 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:42,080 Speaker 1: popular culture, as seen in the works of Lisa Frank 79 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:45,840 Speaker 1: My Little Pony and the Whole Unicorns Farting Rainbows meme 80 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:49,360 Speaker 1: thing is not entirely clear, but it probably has to 81 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:53,080 Speaker 1: do with commercial value. Kids are drawn to unicorns, their 82 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:56,920 Speaker 1: parents buy them unicorns. Single horned cameras that impale bad 83 00:04:56,920 --> 00:04:59,040 Speaker 1: people with their horns likely wouldn't fly with the six 84 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:02,200 Speaker 1: year old set, or at least their parents might object. 85 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:06,360 Speaker 1: Where the Indus Valley unicorn fits into known unicorn legend 86 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:09,400 Speaker 1: remains a mystery. That its image appears on more than 87 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:12,640 Speaker 1: a thousand seals recovered by archaeologists suggests that it was 88 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:15,520 Speaker 1: highly valued. It may have been sacred, It may have 89 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:18,440 Speaker 1: even been real, But the Indus unicorn will keep its 90 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:24,040 Speaker 1: secrets until science finds the key to this ancient code. 91 00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:29,000 Speaker 1: Today's episode was written by Julia Layton and produced by 92 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:31,320 Speaker 1: Tyler Clang. For more on this and lots of other 93 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:45,920 Speaker 1: mythic topics, visit our home planet, has Stuff works dot com.