New Excavations of
Dinosaurs in China
26 August 2006
At 3 o’clock
this afternoon (East China Time), a
joined team consisted of the
archaeologists from China, America,
Canada, Mexico and Briton began
excavating two dinosaur fossil sites in
the country's northwest region.
Site One:
The site is near
the famous "Dinosaur Valley" in
Xingjiang Autonomous region, and the
fossil is believed to belong to a
diplodocus, the most gigantic kind among
the plant-eating dinosaurs. It is said
that they are the largest animals that
have ever lived on earth, and ruled the
world during the late Jurassic and early
Cretaceous periods some 150 million years
ago. According to the archaeologists on
the excavation site the one buried there
could be the biggest diplodocus fossil
ever found in Asia.
Other
major discoveries of the dinosaur
fossils in and around the Dinosaur
Valley:
1928,
lystrosaurus fossil was
unearthed.
1987,
Asia's largest dinosaur
fossil "mamenchisaurus
sinocanadorum" was
discovered.
2002,
the earliest tyrannosaur
fossil in this area was
found.
Site Two:
It is situated in
a barren terrain in Ningxia Autonomous
region. And its discovery has to be
credited to one man’s stubborn faith in
his own perception.
In April 2004, Mr
Ma Yun was out to look for hedgehogs to
make a special medicine for his friend
who was ill. When he entered a secluded
area he spotted a big stone resembling a
limb. Mr Ma suspected it could be an
animal fossil and returned with his
friends and neighbours to have another
look. They saw the blonder, and a blonder
that had no difference to other blonders.
So they advised him to contact a proper
doctor. But he was a stubborn man,
convinced he had perfect eyesight, and
brain.
A half year had
passed and he was still troubled with
that stone, so eventually he contacted
the conservation authorities. After
initial examinations, the archaeologists
conclude that Mr Ma did not just spot an
animal fossil, but has discovered a
dinosaur’s fossil. And it is not even
any other dinosaurs, but a new species
that was never known to man before.
And that is how
one man’s perseverance sees his name
going down in history.
Now the
authorities are planning to invite the
general public to name the new dinosaur
spices.
The locatoin of
Xinjiang (Site 1) highlighted in
red colour,
and the location of Ninxia (Site
2) highlighted in blue colour
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