A man working in his backyard in Portugal has discovered a fossilized bone, now identified as an 82-foot-tall skeleton – possibly the largest ever found in Europe. According to a press release.
The initial discovery dates back to 2017 in the Portuguese city of Pombal, the American Association for the Advancement of Science said in a statement released on Wednesday.
Paleontologists from Portugal and Spain who have worked at the site since then say the bones may have been from a sauropod dinosaur measuring 10 meters high and 24 meters long.
Sauropods were four-legged, herbivorous dinosaurs with long necks and tails, that lived from the late Jurassic to early Cretaceous period, about 160 to 100 million years ago.
The international team of researchers spent more than a week in early August collecting key parts of the massive skeleton, including the vertebrae and ribs.
“It is not uncommon to find all the ribs of an animal like this, much less so in this position, preserve their original anatomical position,” said Elizabeth Malavia, a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Lisbon’s Faculty of Science, in the statement.
convolutional He told CBS News The ribs are about 3 meters long, making it “the largest choropod’s rib currently known in Europe and one of the largest described worldwide”.
The recovered structural parts will be cleaned, posted in the laboratory, documented and studied before they are displayed in the museum, Melfaya told Newsweek.
Based on the preservation and placement of bones taken from the site, the researchers suspect there may be more fossils buried in Pombal’s backyard, and plan to continue excavating next year.
“Creator. Social media addict who loves hipster. Web fan. Passionate alcohol fanatic.”
“Friendly zombie fanatic. Analyst. Coffee buff. Professional music specialist. Communicator.”
