While Excavating Backyard, Europe's Largest Dinosaur Fossil from 150 Million Years Ago 'Tuk' Found

(Photo by University of Lisbon)

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] On the 27th (local time), The Guardian and other daily newspapers reported that the largest dinosaur bone fossil in Europe was discovered in the backyard of a house in Pombal, a coastal city in central Portugal.

According to the report, researchers from the University of Lisbon who conducted the excavation stated that the owner of the dinosaur bones discovered this time is estimated to be the sauropod dinosaur Brachiosaurus, which lived in the Late Jurassic period. Sauropods are dinosaurs with long necks and long tails, and are the largest land animals in Earth's natural history.

The fossils found so far include vertebrae and ribs. Based on the size, it is analyzed that this dinosaur was about 12 meters tall from the ground to the head, and about 25 meters long from head to tail. It is the largest dinosaur bone fossil discovered in Europe. The stratum where the fossil was excavated is the upper layer of Jurassic sedimentary rock, and based on the age of the surrounding rocks, the fossil is estimated to be about 150 million years old.

The excavation work began in 2017. At that time, the homeowner started construction in the backyard and discovered fragments of dinosaur bone fossils, and immediately contacted the University of Lisbon. Elisabete Malafaia, a researcher at the University of Lisbon who participated in the excavation, said, "It is not common to find an entire rib of such an animal."

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