Centaur Skeleton Project

[Adrienne Mayor <afmayor@aol.com>]

Interesting project for someone who would like to help "reconstruct"  
a lifesize skeleton of a Centaur (half-human, half-horse mythical  
creature from Greek myth)

I'm posting this on behalf of William Willers, emeritus professor of  
biology (Univ Wisconsin) and respected artist.

Willers created the celebrated "Centaur of Volos" art project in  
1994, a fascinating re-creation of what a paleontological/ 
archaeological excavation of this mythic creature would look like had  
it really existed.

The point was to challenge viewers' perceptions and logical reasoning  
and to encourage critical thinking about science and fantasy.

Willers created a realistic set of bones to look like an excavation  
site, combining the human skull and torso with a shetland pony  
skeleton. The "Centaur" remains were then embedded in a naturalistic  
sedimentary matrix along with ancient pottery sherds and other  
artifacts, placed in a glass museum case with pseudo-scientific label  
and text. The faux Centaur excavation received a lot of media  
attention and was praised by art critics and scientists alike.

Now Willers is seeking a paleotologist or paleo artist or anyone with  
experience in reconstructing skeletons to help him create another  
hybrid human-equine skeleton. This would be a museum-quality  
reconstruction of a life-size Centaur skeleton in a running pose for  
public display, hopefully in the New York metro area. He already has  
a small human study skeleton from India, and is seeking a fine-boned  
pony or donkey skeleton from veterinary college collections.

If anyone is interested in helping Willers with this project, please  
contact me offline at afmayor@aol.com.
I can email you a jpg of Willers' sketch of the Centaur skeleton.

You can also email William Willers directly at willers@charter.net  
(He will give credit for help with the skeleton and share any proceeds)

For an image and description of Willers' original Centaur Project, on  
permanent display in glass museum case at the Unviersity of Tennessee  
John Hodges Library, see p 242 in my book "The First Fossil  
Hunters" (2000) or go to the following website:

http://web.utk.edu/~blyons/centaur.html

This looks to be a nifty opportunity--thanks in advance and pls  
excuse cross posting.
Adrienne Mayor