One of three centuries-old burial sites discovered in 1980 by the archaeological Society of Argos Orestiko, eight kilometers northeast of Volos, Greece.
The plaque on ‘The Court of Volos,’ which was first exhibited in 1980 at the Madison Art Center in Wisconsin, reads: ‘One of three centuries-old burial sites discovered in 1980 by the archaeological Society of Argos Orestiko, eight kilometers northeast of Volos, Greece.’ The human bones are real, as are the horse bones. But they were joined and staged by a guy named Bill Williams, according to research and forensic-science writer Dorothy Stolze at the Strange Remains forensic anthropology website.
In 1980, Bill Williams, artist and professor of biology at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, constructed the skeletal remains of ‘The Court of Volos’ from real human bones and the bones of a Shetland pony. The human bones that Williams used were from an anatomical specimen, a human skeleton from India, in the biology department at his university. The human and pony bones were then treated to give them a uniform color and make them look authentic.
The Court of Volos” toured a series of colleges in the 1980s, before being purchased by the University of Tennessee-Knoxville in 1994. It is now on permanent display in their Jack E. Reese Gallery at the Hodges Library. In 2008, Williams was commissioned by Skulls Unlimited, a company that sells real bones, both human and other, to create another centaur skeleton, this one posed.
The Court of Tyrfing” was exhibited at Arizona’s International Wildlife Museum in 2012 as part of a “Mythological Wildlife” exhibit. It was subsequently purchased by The Barnum Museum in Connecticut. (Fun fact: “The Court of Tyrfing” actually uses zebra, not horse, bones.) As for why “The Court of Volos” was ever created and exhibited, according to Stolze: The exhibit was designed to encourage students to rely on their critical thinking skills and not accept everything as fact, no matter how believable it looks or sounds, even from a reliable source like a university exhibit. And according to Rhodeide America, Williams “had conceived of the court as a way to test the public’s willingness to believe the unbelievable, just as P.T. Barnum did.” In this day and age, I’m relatively certain I could post the “Volos” photos on Facebook and get at least five people to believe it and circulate it.