The excavation process was undertaken by researchers from the University of Lisbon shortly after they were contacted about the exciting discovery. Earlier this month the excavation team, which is made up of both Spanish and Portuguese paleontologists, revealed that the fossil may belong to a brachiosaurid sauropod.
The four-legged, plant-eating sauropods which feature long necks and tails, were the largest of the dinosaurs and perhaps the largest known land animal to have ever existed. The unearthed remains in Portugal could belong to the largest sauropod found thus far in Europe.
The fossil is also incredibly well preserved. The ribs of the creature appear to be intact and, according to one of the researchers, the skeleton has maintained its original anatomical position.
“It is not usual to find all the ribs of an animal like this, let alone in this position, maintaining their original anatomical position. This mode of preservation is relatively uncommon in the fossil record of dinosaurs, in particular sauropods, from the Portuguese Upper Jurassic”, says Elisabete Malafaia, Postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon.
The skeleton was found in Upper Jurassic sedimentary rocks, a geologic time period spanning somewhere between 161 million to 145 million years ago, during the third epoch of the Jurassic Period which is referred to as the Late Jurassic period.
“[This discovery] confirms that the region of Pombal has an important fossil record of Late Jurassic vertebrates, which in the last decades has provided the discovery of abundant materials very significant for the knowledge of the continental faunas that inhabited the Iberian Peninsula at about 145m years ago,” Malafaia added.
Paleontologists are hopeful that they will dig up more of the dinosaur’s skeletal remains which they believe, when it was alive, was about 40 feet (12 meters) tall and 82 feet (25 meters) long. Thus far the researchers have been able to collect from its axial skeleton including its vertebrae and ribs. The ribs themselves measured about 10 feet in length (3 meters).
Malafaia says she and her team will return to the site next year.