Australians find 98-million-year-old bones of 'œsomething-osaurs'

William Atkins
Wednesday, 17 September 2008 21:15

Science - Biology

An excavation by the Australian Age of Dinosaurs has found “one of the biggest concentrations” of dinosaur bones on a sheep and cattle station near Winton in central western Queensland. They'e not quite sure yet what types of dinosaurs will eventually be identified.


The organization Australian Age of Dinosaurs, Inc. (AAD) is a charitable institution in Winton, Queensland, Australia.

It states on its website, “Imagine the age of dinosaurs: An age of exotic plants, huge animals, fierce marine predators and a lush green Australia. A time 100 million years past when outback Australia was nothing like it is today. A time so old, so distant it defies all reasonable explanations of the word 'time.'"

“A time when dinosaurs walked the earth.”

“Western Queensland, 95 million years ago: The inland sea has retreated to the north and western Queensland is now a fringe of coastal wetlands and open forest. Huge conifers dominate the landscape amid a wealth of lush vegetation: cycads, ginkgos and ferns abound. Horsetails flourish in a myriad of lakes and swamps; dragonflies flit through the marshes and winged reptiles soar above in search of prey. Heavy rain is common, the climate humid and cool. Rivers meander northward - north to the inland sea and lungfish, turtles and crocodiles indulge in their depths.”

Millions of years later, Australian scientists involved with the discovery state it is too early in the investigation to determine the exact significance of the dinosaur bones, but imply that the bones are extremely important.

AAD president David Elliott states, “We're looking at one of the biggest concentrations of dinosaur bones that we've ever found.” [ABC News: “'Huge potential' in outback dinosaur find”]

Elliott continues, "So that's really exciting for us. We have got one other site which is the 'Wade' site which is on our property that has had a very, very thick concentration of bones, but Matilda seems to be better.”

And later adds, "There's a huge potential for some very, very good discoveries to come out of this work in the next 12 months, we're hoping."

Further descriptions of the important find in Australia follow on page two.