From what I understand, the earliest attestation to unicorns is depictions of one-horned animals on seals from the Indus Valley Civilization. It is possible t

From what I understand, the earliest attestation to unicorns is depictions of one-horned animals on seals from the Indus Valley Civilization. It is possible these were actually depictions of aurochs facing sideways, such that only one horn of the auroch was visible. These depictions were misinterpreted by ancient Greeks, who believed unicorns existed in India. The myth grows from there, at times reinforced by accounts of rhinos and 'horns' from narwhals. Sideways depiction of an auroch: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurochs#/media/File:Aurochs_skeletal.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurochs#/media/File:Aurochs_sk... Indus Valley Civilization seal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicorn#/media/File:Indus_civilisation_seal_unicorn_at_Indian_Museum,_Kolkata.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicorn#/media/File:Indus_civi... On that 'unicorn' seal, there seems to be something hanging from the belly of the animal. That looks very similar to the anatomy of male cattle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle#/media/File:Arouquesa2.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle#/media/File:Arouquesa2....