Category Archives: ARGENTINA

Remains of a woman from 800 years ago were found in a Wooden canoe

Remains of a woman from 800 years ago were found in a Wooden canoe

Remains of a woman from 800 years ago were found in a Wooden canoe
An illustration of a deceased young woman lying in a wampos (ceremonial canoe) with a pottery jug near her head.

Up to 1,000 years ago, mourners buried a young woman in a ceremonial canoe to represent her final journey into the land of the dead in what is now Patagonia, a new study finds. The discovery reaffirms ethnographic and historical accounts that canoe burials were practised throughout pre-Hispanic South America and refutes the idea that they may have been used only after the Spanish colonization, according to the authors of the study.

“We hope this investigation and its results will resolve this controversy,” said archaeologist Alberto Pérez, an associate professor of anthropology at the Temuco Catholic University in Chile and the lead author of the study, published Wednesday (Aug. 24) in the journal PLOS One.

Canoe burials are well attested and are still practised in some areas of South America, Pérez told Live Science. But because wood rots rapidly, the new finding is the first known evidence of the practice from the pre-Hispanic period. “The previous evidence was important and was based on ethnographic data, but the evidence was indirect,” he said.

The archaeological site in northwest Argentina was excavated between 2012 and 2015 before a well was built at the location, which is on private land.

The burial described in the study, at the Newen Antug archaeological site near Lake Lacár in western Argentina, indicates that mourners buried the woman on her back in a wooden structure crafted from a single tree trunk that had been hollowed out by the fire.

The same burning technique has been used for thousands of years to make “dugout” canoes known as “wampos” in the local Mapuche culture, and evidence suggests that Indigenous people prepared the woman’s remains so that she could embark on a final canoe journey across mystical waters to her final abode in the “destination of souls,” Pérez said.

Pre-Hispanic burial

The woman’s grave is the earliest of three known pre-Hispanic burials at the Newen Antug site, which archaeologists excavated between 2012 and 2015, before a well was built at the location, which is on private land. The location is at the northern extreme of the region known as Patagonia, which consists of the temperate steppes, alpine regions, coasts and deserts of the southern part of South America.

Radiocarbon dating indicates the woman was buried more than 850 years ago and possibly up to 1,000 years ago, while her sex and age at death — between 17 and 25 years old — were estimated from her pelvic bones and the wear on her teeth, according to the study. (Evidence suggests the Mapuche have lived in the region since at least 600 B.C.)

A pottery jug decorated with white glaze and red geometric patterns, placed in the grave by her head, suggests a connection with the “red on white bichrome” tradition of pre-Hispanic ceramics on both sides of the Andes mountains, the researchers found. This is the earliest known example of this type of pottery being used as a grave gift, according to the study.

Canoes known as wampos in the Mapuche language were constructed by hollowing out a single tree trunk with fire, with thicker walls at the bow and stern.

Given its age and the humid climate, the burial canoe has rotted away, and only fragments of wood remain. But tests suggest that the fragments came from the same tree — a  Chilean cedar (Austrocedrus chilensis) — and that it had been hollowed out with fire.

Shells found in the grave show that her body was placed directly on a bed of Diplodon chilensis, a type of freshwater clam that was likely brought from the shores of Lake Lacár more than 1,000 feet (300 meters) away, the researchers wrote.

The young woman was buried more than 800 years ago in a wampo, or ceremonial canoe, that researchers think symbolized a boat journey to the land of the dead.

In addition, the position of the body — with the arms gathered above the torso, and the head and feet raised — indicates that the woman was buried inside a concave structure with thicker walls at the ends, which correspond to the bow and stern of a canoe, Pérez said.

Taken together, these aspects suggest the woman was interred in a traditional canoe burial representing the Mapuche belief that a soul must make a final boat journey before it arrives in the land of the dead. “The material evidence all goes in the same direction, and there is a whole battery of ethnographic and historical information that accounts for it,” Pérez told Live Science in an email.

Destination of souls

According to Mapuche belief, the destination of the deads’ souls was “Nomelafken” — a word in the Mapuche language that translates to the “other side of the sea” — and the newly dead would make a metaphorical boat journey for up to four years before they arrived at a mythical island called Külchemapu or Külchemaiwe, Pérez and his colleagues wrote in the study.

A historical report from the 1840s by the Chilean politician Salvador Sanfuentes remarked that local people “site the graves of their dead on the bank of a stream to allow the current to carry the soul to the land of souls” and that ceremonial canoes were buried as coffins to carry the dead on this journey, the researchers wrote.

The metaphor of the recently deceased making such a canoe journey to a final destination seems to have been prevalent throughout South America in pre-Hispanic times, and possibly for thousands of years, Pérez noted.

“We infer that this was a widespread practice on the continent, although it is little known to archaeology due to conservation problems,” such as the degradation of wood in humid climates, he said. “The antiquity of these practices is uncertain, but we know such navigation technologies were used there more than 3,500 years ago, so we can estimate that date as a potential time limit.”

The new study has great scientific importance for archaeological and anthropological research in the Patagonia region, said Nicolás Lira, an assistant professor of archaeology, ethnography and prehistory at the University of Chile who wasn’t involved in the research.

“The findings … are of exceptional preservation for the humid environment of the region, where rivers and lakes shape the landscape in an interconnected [river] system that facilitated and encouraged navigation,” Lira told Live Science in an email. 

Juan Skewes, an anthropologist at Alberto Hurtado University in Chile who wasn’t involved in the study, said the Newen Antug burial was “strong evidence” of a shared cultural tradition between the east and west “slopes” of the Andes. 

Meanwhile, historical and ethnographic records suggest such canoe burials represented a symbolic relationship between the Mapuche people and bodies of water, but that relationship wasn’t their only consideration, Skewes said. For example, “trees are part of almost every aspect of the Mapuche’s daily life, Skewes said. “Aside from having associations with mortuary practices, they are linked to childbirth and to the memories of the dead.” That might mean that the construction of a burial wampo from a single tree could have had extra meaning, in addition to the canoe’s symbolic function during the final voyage of the dead, he said.

A 193-million-year old nesting ground with more than 100 dinosaur eggs offers evidence they lived in herds

A 193-million-year-old nesting ground with more than 100 dinosaur eggs offers evidence they lived in herds

A 193-million-year-old nesting ground containing more than 100 dinosaurs’ eggs is upending palaeontologists’ understanding of an early dinosaur species.

An artist’s reconstruction of a Mussaurus patagonicus nest.

Research published Thursday describes a collection of eggs and juvenile and adult skeletons from a dinosaur called Mussaurus patagonicus, which were found in Patagonia, Argentina. The dino is an ancestor of long-necked herbivores called sauropods, such as Brachiosaurus.

Most of the chicken-sized eggs were discovered in clusters of eight to 30, suggesting they resided in nests as part of a common breeding ground. Scientists also found Mussaurus skeletons of similar sizes and ages buried together. Combined, these patterns offer evidence that the dinosaurs lived in herds.

“I went to this site aiming to find at least one nice dinosaur skeleton. We ended up with 80 skeletons and more than 100 eggs (some with embryos preserved inside!)” Diego Pol, a researcher with the Egidio Feruglio palaeontology museum in Patagonia and the lead author of the new study, told Insider via email.

He called the site “one of a kind.”

Before this discovery, researchers thought herding behaviour was restricted to dinosaurs that came much later, in the very late Jurassic and early Cretaceous periods. That’s because the earliest fossil evidence of sauropod herds only dates back 150 million years. This nesting ground, however, pushes that timeline back more than 40 million years. It’s the earliest known evidence of social groups among dinosaurs, the study authors said.

X-rays offer a peek into fossilized dinosaur eggs

A fossilized Mussaurus egg that’s more than 190 million years old, found in southern Patagonia, Argentina.

Argentine palaeontologists discovered the first Mussaurus skeletons at this Patagonian site in the late 1970s. The dinosaurs they found were no more than 6 inches long. Unaware that they’d uncovered newborns, the researchers named the creature “mouse lizard” because of the skeletons’ tiny size.

Pol decided to reexplore the area starting in 2002, and by 2013, he’d helped find the first adult Mussaurus fossils there. Those bones revealed that full-grown versions of these “mouse lizards” were closer in size to modern-day hippos. They grew to weigh about 1.5 tons, reaching lengths of 26 feet from nose to tail tip. But infants could fit in the palm of a human hand.

A screen shot from a video showing how scientists like Diego Pol used high-energy X-rays to peek inside a Mussaurus egg without destroying it.

Since then, Pol’s team has also uncovered and studied the contents of the nesting ground, which measures just under half a square mile. In 2017, he took 30 of the eggs to a lab in France, and his group then used X-ray technology to peek inside and confirm the species of the embryos without breaking the shells.

By analyzing the sizes and types of bones in the nesting ground, the researchers determined that the animals were buried near counterparts of a similar age. Some clusters had juveniles less than a year old, others consisted of individuals that were slightly older but not yet fully grown, and finally, there were smatterings of adults that had died solo or in pairs.

That type of age segregation, the researchers said, is a key sign of herds: Juveniles hung out with others their age while adults looked for food and protected the community.

“They were resting together and likely died during a drought,” Pol said. “This is compatible with a herd that stays together for many years and within which the animals get close to each other to rest, or to forage, or do other daily activities.”

Another strong indication of herd behaviour is the nesting ground itself: If Mussaurus lived as a community, it would make sense that they’d lay eggs in a common area.

Living in herds may have helped Mussaurus survive

Nest with Mussaurus eggs dated to more than 190 million years ago, found in Patagonia. Diego Pol

To figure out the fossils’ ages, researchers examined minerals in volcanic ash that was scattered around the eggs and skeletons and determined that the fossils were about 193 million years old.

Previously, scientists thought this type of dinosaur lived during the late Triassic period, about 221 million to 205 million years ago. But the new date suggests instead that Mussaurus thrived during the early Jurassic period. That, in turn, is evidence that Mussaurus’ ancestors survived a mass extinction event 200 million years ago.

The key to that survival, the study suggests, may have been their herding behaviour.

“These were social animals and we think this may be an important factor to explain their success,” Pol said.

An artist’s depiction of the nesting ground of a Mussaurus herd of in what is now Argentina. Jorge Gonzalez

Communal living likely helped Mussaurus find enough food, perhaps by making it easier for them to forage over larger areas. Mussaurus of the same size would likely “group together to coordinate their activities,” Pol said, given that larger adults and tinier juveniles moved at different speeds.

He added that given the size difference between newborns and adults, it probably took these dinosaurs many years to reach full size. So young Mussaurus might have been vulnerable to predation.

By staying in herds, adults could better protect their young.

Magellan’s Strange Encounter With the 10-Foot Giants of Patagonia

Magellan’s Strange Encounter With the 10-Foot Giants of Patagonia

You may have heard of the mythical, gigantic former inhabitants who wandered the wastes of Patagonia… The vision of a faraway land, inhabited by towering giants, has captured an enchanted European imagination for many years. But was Patagonia really the home to these larger-than-life folk, or was it no more than a myth spread by fantasists…?

The first mention of the giants, supposedly twice the height of the normal human being, appeared in the Italian chronicler Antonio Pigafetta’s account of Ferdinand Magellan’s travels.

This official record reported that Magellan’s crew got more than they bargained for during their circumnavigation of the globe in the 1520s.

Pigafetta details a dancing and leaping giant on the shores of Argentina. Not one to take all the glory for himself, Magellan selflessly sent a poor crew member over to the gallivanting giant to make contact…

The giant was reportedly very friendly, and so colossally tall that the Europeans only reached his waist. Magellan named them ‘patagones’, and many believe this to have come from the Portuguese word ‘pata’, meaning ‘foot’.

Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521)
Magellan's Strange Encounter With the 10-Foot Giants of Patagonia
“Here, have this bread, so as not to eat me instead.

The so-called giants left huge, gaping footprints in the snow because of the large guanaco-skin moccasins they wore on their feet. Patagonia may thus mean ‘land of the bigfoot’, which unsurprisingly contributed to the rumours and mythologisation of the Patagonian giants. One other suggestion, however, is that Magellan took the name from the giant Patagón, a prominent character in the sixteenth-century Spanish chivalric romance Primaleón, which Magellan had more than likely read.

Spanish explorers of the day often took inspiration from a recent good read; indeed, ‘California’ came from a mythical island of the same name in another Spanish romance, Las Sergas de Esplandián). Magellan captured two of these giants to take back to Spain with him, but they sadly died on the homeward voyage.

Then a century on, in 1628, Sir Francis Drake’s nephew detailed his uncle’s circumnavigation in The World Encompassed and mentioned once more the legendary giant-dwellers of Patagonia… Drake the nephew suggested that, though the native people were far taller than any Europeans the crew had seen, perhaps Magellan’s crew had exaggerated the size of the Patagones, thinking it unlikely that anyone would ever go back to Patagonia to check, and indulging their friends and family by spinning a good yarn…

You can spot the gigantic Patagones on this contemporary map (not to scale)

But then in 1615, the Dutch circumnavigators Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire found graves containing human bones on the Patagonian shores… bones of beings which appeared to be ten or eleven feet tall…

Later on in 1766, Captain John Byron (grandfather to the poet) also circumnavigated the world and the story spread that the crew had encountered enormous, nine-foot giants.

Rumors flew furiously around Europe, and the line between fact and fiction grew increasingly blurred… There were bitter disputes between French and British scientists, the former believing that the latter were supporting the case for the existence of giants as a smokescreen, hiding what the French feared most: that British sailors were not really embarking on a giant-hunt in Patagonia, but rather scoping it out as an entry point to attack French territories in the New World.

It was in 1767 that the romantic vision of Patagonia as a wilderness hiding giants started to fade. French explorer Louis de Bougainville reported that the tallest Patagonian he came across was only 5ft 9in, and then, in 1773, the official account of the Byron voyage emerged… in reality, the so-called “giants” were only four inches taller than the most sky-scraping crew members.

The Tehuelche people

The Patagones is now thought to have been member of the indigenous Tehuelche tribe, a Mapudungun word meaning ‘Fierce People’. They are known to have been taller than the average European (who measured in at roughly five feet), and in all likelihood were the real Goliaths of Patagonia myth and legend.

“Dragon Of Death” Flying Reptile Found. It Lived 86 Million Years Ago

“Dragon Of Death” Flying Reptile Found. It Lived 86 Million Years Ago

The fossilised remains of a huge flying reptile dubbed the ‘Dragon of Death’ – which lived alongside the dinosaurs 86 million years ago – have been unearthed in Argentina. Measuring about 30ft (9m) long, it is the largest pterosaur discovered in South America and one of the biggest flying vertebrates to have ever lived.

Researchers said the ‘beast’ would likely have been a frightening sight as it hunted its prey from prehistoric skies. 

It is estimated the fearsome species lived at least 20 million years before an asteroid impact on what is now Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula wiped out about three-quarters of life on the planet 66 million years ago.

Giant beast: The remains of a huge flying reptile dubbed the ‘Dragon of Death’ – which lived alongside the dinosaurs 86 million of years ago – have been unearthed in Argentina
Researchers said the ‘beast’ would likely have been a frightening sight as it hunted its prey from prehistoric skies
Measuring about 30ft (9m) long, it is the largest pterosaur discovered in South America and one of the biggest flying vertebrates to have ever lived

A team of palaeontologists discovered the fossils of the newly-coined Thanatosdrakon amaru in the Andes mountains in Argentina’s western Mendoza province. 

Project leader Leonardo Ortiz said the fossil’s never-before-seen characteristics required a new genus and species name, with the latter combining ancient Greek words for death (Thanatos) and dragon (drakon).

‘It seemed appropriate to name it that way,’ said Ortiz, of the National University of Cuyo in Mendoza. 

‘It’s the dragon of death.’

The reptile was as long as a yellow school bus with an estimated wingspan of around 30ft (9m).

Some 40 bones and fragments were unearthed by the team of palaeontologists. 

Some 40 bones and fragments were unearthed by the team of palaeontologists (pictured)
Researchers said the fossil’s huge bones classify the new species as the largest pterosaur yet discovered in South America and one of the largest found anywhere in the world
"Dragon Of Death" Flying Reptile Found. It Lived 86 Million Years Ago
Project leader Leonardo Ortiz said the fossil’s never-before-seen characteristics required a new genus and species name

They said the fossil’s huge bones classify the new species as the largest pterosaur yet discovered in South America and one of the largest found anywhere in the world.

The researchers found that the rocks preserving the reptile’s remains dated back 86 million years to the Cretaceous period, which lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago.

‘We don’t have a current record of any close relative that even has a body modification similar to these beasts,’ said Ortiz.

The researchers wrote in their paper that Thanatosdrakon ‘is the largest pterosaur that crossed the Cretaceous skies of South America discovered so far.

They said the discovery would allow scientists ‘to expand the knowledge about the anatomy of this diverse group of pterosaurs’. 

The study has been published in the journal Cretaceous Research.

A Two-Headed Giant has been discovered in Patagonia

A Two-Headed Giant has been discovered in Patagonia

Kap Dwa is a two-headed giant cryptid allegedly discovered by Spanish sailors off the coast of Argentina in the 17th century. The accounts of its capture vary, but afterwards, its mummified remains were brought to England, and in the 19th century if circulated between various circuses and sideshows.

Drawing representing the giant Kap Dwa

The Kap Dwa is considered to be a hoax produced through taxidermy

Etymology

The name “Kap Dwa” literally means “Two Heads” in the language of the Malay people. It’s important to note that the Malay people are not from South America, where the cryptid was allegedly discovered.

The Malay are an Austronesian ethnic group found in modern-day Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Singapore. This incongruity with the cultural origin of the name of the creature and the location it was allegedly discovered may also indicate its hoax status.

Capture

There are two competing accounts for how this creature was allegedly captured. In one account, the Spanish sailors captured the creature alive.

The Spaniards lashed him to the mainmast, but he broke free (being a giant) and during the ensuing battle suffered a fatal injury; they skewered him through the chest with a pike.

In another account, the sailors merely discovered the body of the giant with a spear already puncturing its chest.

England and the United States

Record of what happened next to the dead body of the creature is unclear, but its mummified remains were eventually brought to England, where the remains entered the Edwardian Horror Circuit.

Over the years the remains passed from one showman to another. Eventually, in 1914, the Kap Dwa ended up displayed at the Birnbeck Pier, North Somerset England, where it would stay for forty-five years.

In 1959, the remains were purchased by an alleged lord by the name of Thomas Howard. From Howard, the remains passed again from owner to owner until arriving at its current location, Bob’s Side Show at Antique Man Ltd. in Baltimore, Maryland.

Similar Sightings

Sebalt de Weert (May 2, 1567 – May 30 or June 1603) was a Dutch captain associated with the exploration of the coasts of South America and the Falkland Islands south of Argentina.

De Weert and several crew claimed to have seen members of a “race of giants” while there. De Weert described a particular incident when he was with his men in boats rowing to an island in the Magellan Strait.

The Dutch claimed to have seen seven odd-looking boats approaching with were full of naked giants. These giants supposedly had long hair and reddish-brown skin and were aggressive towards the crew.

Medical Knowledge vs the Legend

For Kap Dwa to be genuine, we would have to suppose two very unlikely scenarios at once. We would have to presume that dicephalic parapagus twins were born who had yet another rare and lifespan-reducing disorder, gigantism, and they were somehow able to overcome all the health problems related to both conditions and become full-fledged adults that were strong and healthy enough to engage in combat with a band of sailors.

While this is not out of the question, it does make the story much more unlikely and in need of considerably more evidence.

The body was allegedly examined by physicians in the 1960s who said that it showed no obvious signs of being fake. No other experts appear to have examined the body either to determine if it is genuine or if it had the internal anatomic requirements to be likely to survive as a set of dicephalic parapagus twins.

193-million-year-old nesting ground with more than 100 dinosaur eggs offers evidence that they lived in herds

193-million-year-old nesting ground with more than 100 dinosaur eggs offers evidence that they lived in herds

A 193-million-year-old nesting ground containing more than 100 dinosaurs eggs is upending paleontologists’ understanding of an early dinosaur species. Research published Thursday describes a collection of eggs and juvenile and adult skeletons from a dinosaur called Mussaurus patagonicus, which were found in Patagonia, Argentina.

An artist’s reconstruction of a Mussaurus patagonicus nest.

The dino is an ancestor of long-necked herbivores called sauropods, such as Brachiosaurus. Most of the chicken-sized eggs were discovered in clusters of eight to 30, suggesting they resided in nests as part of a common breeding ground.

Scientists also found Mussaurus skeletons of similar sizes and ages buried together. Combined, these patterns offer evidence that the dinosaurs lived in herds.

“I went to this site aiming to find at least one nice dinosaur skeleton. We ended up with 80 skeletons and more than 100 eggs (some with embryos preserved inside!)” Diego Pol, a researcher with the Egidio Feruglio paleontology museum in Patagonia and the lead author of the new study, told Insider via email.

He called the site “one of a kind.”

Before this discovery, researchers thought herding behavior was restricted to dinosaurs that came much later, in the very late Jurassic and early Cretaceous periods. That’s because the earliest fossil evidence of sauropod herds only dates back 150 million years. This nesting ground, however, pushes that timeline back more than 40 million years. It’s the earliest known evidence of social groups among dinosaurs, the study authors said.

X-rays offer a peek into fossilized dinosaur eggs

193-million-year-old nesting ground with more than 100 dinosaur eggs offers evidence that they lived in herds
A fossilized Mussaurus egg that’s more than 190 million years old, found in southern Patagonia, Argentina.

Argentine paleontologists discovered the first Mussaurus skeletons at this Patagonian site in the late 1970s. The dinosaurs they found were no more than 6 inches long. Unaware that they’d uncovered newborns, the researchers named the creature “mouse lizard” because of the skeletons’ tiny size.

Pol decided to reexplore the area starting in 2002, and by 2013, he’d helped find the first adult Mussaurus fossils there. Those bones revealed that full-grown versions of these “mouse lizards” were closer in size to modern-day hippos. They grew to weigh about 1.5 tons, reaching lengths of 26 feet from nose to tail tip. But infants could fit in the palm of a human hand.

A screen shot from a video showing how scientists like Diego Pol used high-energy X-rays to peek inside a Mussaurus egg without destroying it.

Since then, Pol’s team has also uncovered and studied the contents of the nesting ground, which measures just under half a square mile. In 2017, he took 30 of the eggs to a lab in France, and his group then used X-ray technology to peek inside and confirm the species of the embryos without breaking the shells.

By analyzing the sizes and types of bones in the nesting ground, the researchers determined that the animals were buried near counterparts of a similar age. Some clusters had juveniles less than a year old, others consisted of individuals that were slightly older but not yet fully grown, and finally, there were smatterings of adults that had died solo or in pairs.

That type of age segregation, the researchers said, is a key sign of herds: Juveniles hung out with others their age while adults looked for food and protected the community.

“They were resting together and likely died during a drought,” Pol said. “This is compatible with a herd that stays together during many years and within which the animals get close to each other to rest, or to forage, or do other daily activities.”

Another strong indication of herd behavior is a nesting ground itself: If Mussaurus lived as a community, it would make sense that they’d lay eggs in a common area.

Living in herds may have helped Mussaurus survive

Nest with Mussaurus eggs dated to more than 190 million years ago, found in Patagonia. Diego Pol

To figure out the fossils’ ages, researchers examined minerals in volcanic ash that was scattered around the eggs and skeletons, and determined that the fossils were about 193 million years old.

Previously, scientists thought this type of dinosaur lived during the late Triassic period, about 221 million to 205 million years ago. But the new date suggests instead that Mussaurus thrived during the early Jurassic period. That, in turn, is evidence that Mussaurus’ ancestors survived a mass extinction event 200 million years ago.

The key to that survival, the study suggests, may have been their herding behavior.

READ ALSO: RESEARCHERS DISCOVER FOUR DINOSAURS IN MONTANA

“These were social animals and we think this may be an important factor to explain their success,” Pol said.

An artist’s depiction of the nesting ground of a Mussaurus herd of in what is now Argentina.

Communal living likely helped Mussaurus find enough food, perhaps by making it easier for them to forage over larger areas. Mussaurus of the same size would likely “group together to coordinate their activities,” Pol said, given that larger adults and tinier juveniles moved at different speeds.

He added that given the size difference between newborns and adults, it probably took these dinosaurs many years to reach full size. So young Mussaurus might have been vulnerable to predation.

By staying in herds, adults could better protect their young.

Dinosaur fossils found in Argentina could belong to the largest creature ever to have walked the Earth

Dinosaur fossils found in Argentina could belong to the largest creature ever to have walked the Earth

A team of researchers with Naturales y Museo, Universidad de Zaragoza and Universidad Nacional del Comahue has found evidence that suggests the remains of a dinosaur discovered in Argentina in 2012 may represent a creature that was the largest ever to walk the Earth.

Dinosaur fossils found in Argentina could belong to the largest creature ever to have walked the Earth
Argentinosaurus huinculensis reconstruction at Museo Municipal Carmen Funes, Plaza Huincul, Neuquén, Argentina. Credit: William Irvin Sellers, Lee Margetts, Rodolfo Aníbal Coria, Phillip Lars Manning, PLoS ONE (2013)

In their paper published in the journal Cretaceous Research, the group describes the fossilized remains that have been found so far and what they have revealed.

The largest creature ever to live is believed to be the blue whale—the largest of which grow to 33.6 meters long.

The biggest land creatures are believed to have been the dinosaurs—of them, the titanosaur (as their name suggests) is believed to be the largest.

And of those, Argentinosaurus represents the largest that left enough evidence for it to be classified the heaviest—at approximately 36.5 meters in length and weighing in at a hundred tons, it would have dwarfed today’s land animals by a considerable amount.

Researchers studying Patagotitan fossils (another titanosaur found in Patagonia) have suggested some of them might have broken the record for the largest, but there was insufficient fossil evidence to prove it.

In either case, the researchers studying the new remains have begun to believe that they have found an even bigger titanosaur.

Thus far, the dinosaur has been dated back to 98 million years ago (putting it in the Late Jurassic to the early Cretaceous).

The fossils found include 24 vertebrae, all belonging to a giant tail, parts of a pelvis and a pectoral girdle.

The huge size of each suggests the dinosaur was a very large titanosaur—one that might be bigger than Argentinosaurus. That claim cannot be confirmed, however, until leg bones are found. Their size will allow the researchers to make estimates of the animals’ body weight.

A handout picture released on January 20, 2021, by the CTyS-UNLaM Science Outreach Agency showing a palaeontologist during an excavation in which 98 million-year-old fossils were found, at the Candeleros Formation in the Neuquen River Valley, Argentina.

Titanosaurs belong to the sauropod family, which means they were herbivores, had massive bodies and long necks and tails.

Such dinosaurs would have had few worries from meat-eating enemies if they managed to grow to full size.

Their fossils have been found on all continents except Antarctica. The researchers conclude by noting that more digging in the area will likely reveal more fossils from the same dinosaur and perhaps evidence of its true size.

Giants and beings of unknown origin were recorded by the ancients

Giants and beings of unknown origin were recorded by the ancients

Found in many regions of the world, cave paintings have been a valuable source of information for understanding the lifestyle and beliefs of early humans. Some depict scenarios that are fairly simple to understand, such as men hunting or entire families in a village.

Giants and beings of unknown origin were recorded by the ancients
Cave paintings in Tassili n’Ajjer.

The cave paintings discovered on the Tassili n’Ajjer plateau in southern Algeria, are a major conundrum for scholars.

They sketched what they observed, assuming that ancient humans did not have the ability to imagine such art: “One of the images appears to portray an extraterrestrial pursuing human being towards an oval object, comparable to a small spaceship.”

To see up close what many consider to be the world’s finest museum of prehistoric art, visitors must journey to the parched plains of the Sahara desert. Specifically in southern Algeria, 700 metres above sea level, is the Tassili plateau.

It is feasible to reach one of the earliest sources of information on ancient terrestrial life by traversing many cliffs. Years of wear and tear, as well as the strong forces of nature, have rendered the road nearly inaccessible. Rock formations that resemble enormous stone sentinels may be seen.

It is precisely in this location where caverns and more caves, with around 1,500 cave paintings dating from 10 to 15 thousand years, come into play.

They are thought to have been created by humans who lived on the site throughout the Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic periods.

Some paintings make sense, but others are enthralling, leaving you to ponder the true meaning for hours on end. First and foremost, everything discovered in this remote location supports what was originally thought about the Sahara Desert: this location was once bustling with life. A diverse range of plant and animal species coexisted in this area, as well as in many other parts of Africa and the world.

The patterns on ledges and rocks appear to imply that flowers, olive groves, cypresses, and other species grew in a fertile and vibrant environment. Furthermore, the current wildlife included antelopes, lions, ostriches, elephants, and rivers teeming with crocodiles. Unquestionably, a totally different scenario than what is now occurring in the Sahara.

Similarly, human beings can be seen in their daily activities in over a thousand primitive depictions discovered in Tassili.

Men hunting, swimming, and farming, as well as other routine activities in an archaic civilization. Nothing out of the ordinary for numerous experts and scholars who have visited this genuine book of stones.

Now, there are certain fascinating aspects that even the most sceptical brains can detect. To begin with, the tonality of the paintings is considerably more diverse than that which was typically used at that period. The rock art scenes from the same time period are not as vibrant as those seen here.

Tassili n’Ajjer Painting Figure. This “God” very closely resembled a paleo-astronaut in a space suit.

The images that appear to portray creatures wearing helmets and diving suits, quite similar to current astronauts, are the most stunning and difficult to accept. Furthermore, other pictures depict humanoids with enormous round heads and excessively large limbs.

Everything appears to imply that these strange and perplexing artworks show that creatures from other worlds visited our planet in the distant past. It is thought that primitive humans were unable to envision this type of art. Instead, they just sketched what they saw, which became part of their memories.

A strange huge creature and we can see a probable ‘kid’ being abducted by something or someone close alongside him. Surprisingly, the beings around this behemoth (at least some of them) do not appear to be human.

This entire collection of cave paintings might be the oldest evidence of a meeting between mankind and creatures from other worlds. In fact, one of the photos appears to depict a group of aliens escorting several people towards an oval object like a small spaceship.

Some experts who have visited the site believe that the early painters witnessed something unusual and left pictorial proof of it. These depictions of creatures with huge round heads are of ‘Tassili’s gods of unknown origin.’