Swipe Fossil dwarf elephant skeletons

Swipe  Fossil dwarf elephant skeletons from Italy and Greece with skulls twice the size of a human head were interpreted by Greeks — who had never seen an elephant — as single-eyed Cyclopes because the nasal cavity was a large hole in the center of the elephant’s skull.

These fossils are particularly abundant in Sicily, and most of the Cyclopes tales start there.

The Cyclopes of Greek myths were repulsive, single-eyed, humanlike giants who served as the blacksmiths to the gods from their caves in the bowels of Mt. Etna in Sicily. Some were said to be maneaters.