A site containing 220-million-year-old fossilized remains of dinosaurs discovered in Argentina

A site containing the 220-million-year-old fossilized remains of nearly a dozen dinosaurs has been discovered in western Argentina. According to Argentinian paleontologist Ricardo Martinez of the University of San Juan, there are almost ten different individuals, with practically no sediment. The discovery is doubly important because there are at least 7 or 8 individuals of dicynodonts, the ancestors of mammals, the size of an ox. There were also remains of archosaurs, reptiles that could be the ancestors of great crocodiles. The find was discovered in September 2018 in San Juan province, about 1,100 kilometres west of Buenos Aires. The site is between one and two metres in diameter and about the same depth, leading scientists to speculate it was a former drinking hole at a time of great drought, and the creatures died of weakness at the spot. Argentina has been a rich source of fossils from the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous eras over the years – of most creatures not found in the northern hemisphere.


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