<P> Among numerous finds of prehistoric bones found at Unicorn Cave in Germany's Harz Mountains, some were selected and reconstructed by the mayor of Magdeburg, Otto Von Guericke, as a unicorn in 1663 (illustration, right). Guericke's so - called unicorn had only two legs, and was constructed from fossil bones of a woolly rhinoceros and a mammoth, with the horn of a narwhal . The skeleton was examined by Gottfried Leibniz, who had previously doubted the existence of the unicorn, but was convinced by it . </P> <P> Baron Georges Cuvier maintained that, as the unicorn was cloven - hoofed, it must therefore have a cloven skull (making the growth of a single horn impossible); as if to disprove this, Dr. W. Franklin Dove, a University of Maine professor, artificially fused the horn buds of a calf together, creating the external appearance of a one - horned bull . </P> <P> The first objects unearthed from Harappa and Mohenjo - Daro, major sites of the Indus Valley Civilization, were small stone seals inscribed with elegant depictions of animals, including a unicorn - like figure, and marked with Indus script writing which still baffles scholars . These seals are dated back to 2500 B.C. </P> <P> The "unicorn" figures on the seals have been interpreted as representations of aurochs--a type of large wild cattle that formerly inhabited Europe, Asia and North Africa--or derivatives of aurochs . It is suggested that as the animal is always shown in profile, only one of the two horns is seen . </P>

Where did the story of the unicorn come from