The First Dinosaur Bones May Have Been Found Nearly 1,000 Years Ago in Africa

Tulang Dinosaurus Pertama Mungkin Telah Ditemukan Hampir 1.000 Tahun Lalu di Afrika

The First Dinosaur Bone May Have Been Found Almost 1,000 Years Ago in Africa

Humans originated from Africa: Homo sapiens have been around for at least 300,000 years. And this continent has diverse layers of rocks, such as the Kem Kem layer in Morocco, the Fayum depression in Egypt, the Rift Valley in East Africa, and the Karoo in South Africa, which contain fossils that are always accessible to our ancestors. So, it is not only possible that Africans discovered the first fossils. It is unavoidable.

"More often than not, the first dinosaur fossils that should have been discovered by scientists were actually informed to them by local guides."

The First Dinosaur Bones May Have Been Found Nearly 1,000 Years Ago in Africa

The translation of the 'Bahasa' text to 'English' while preserving any html tags is: "Examples include the discovery of the giant dinosaur Jobaria by the Tuareg tribe in Niger and Giraffatitan by the Mwera tribe in Tanzania."

Bolahla Rock Shelter in Lesotho

One of the main points is the Bolahla archaeological site, a sheltered place of Stone Age stone in Lesotho. Various dating techniques indicate that this site was inhabited by the Khoesan and Basotho tribes from the 12th to the 18th centuries (1100 to 1700 AD).

The shelter itself is surrounded by hills formed from consolidated sediment deposited under harsh deserts like the Sahara around 180 to 200 million years ago, when the first dinosaurs roamed the Earth. This part of Lesotho is famous for the discovery of Massospondylus carinatus, a type of dinosaur with a small head and long neck measuring 4 to 6 meters in length. Fossil bones of this species are abundant in the area and were already present when the site was inhabited by people in the Middle Ages.

In 1990, archaeologists working in Bolahla discovered that a Massospondylus finger bone had been brought into the cave. There were no prominent fossil skeletons on the cave walls, so the only possibility is that someone in the past took it and brought it into the cave.

"Made into a Pendant"

Maybe the person did it out of simple curiosity, or to be used as a pendant or toy, or to be used in traditional healing rituals.

After heavy rain, it is not uncommon for people in the area to find the bones of extinct species that have been carried out of their original rocks.

Usually they are identified as belonging to monster resembling dragons that prey on humans or even entire houses.

In Lesotho, the Basotho community refers to this monster as 'Kholumolumo,' while in the Eastern Cape province, which borders Lesotho in South Africa, the Xhosa tribe calls it 'Amagongqongqo.' The exact date when this phalanx was collected and transported is unfortunately lost over time. With current knowledge, it could have occurred at any time during the occupation of the sheltered place from the 12th to the 18th century.

This opens up the possibility that these dinosaur bones could have been collected up to 500 years before the discovery of Plot.

"Initial Knowledge about Extinct Creatures"

Most people know about fossils long before the scientific era, as far as can be remembered by the collective memory of society. In Algeria, for example, people refer to some dinosaur footprints as belonging to the legend of 'Burung Roc.' In North America, cave paintings depicting dinosaur footprints were painted by the Anasazi tribe between 1000 and 1200 AD.

The native people of Australia identify dinosaur footprints as belonging to the legendary 'Emu-Man'
"In the south, the famous conqueror Hernan Cortes was given a Mastodon fossil femur by the Aztec tribe in 1519."

In Asia, Hindus refer to the ammonite (a coiled fossil shell) as 'Shaligrams' and have worshipped it for over 2,000 years.

"Claiming Credit"

The fact that people in Africa have long known about fossils can be seen from folklore and archaeological records, but there is still much for us to learn about it. For example, unlike people in Europe, America, and Asia, native African paleontologists seem to rarely use fossils for traditional medicine.

We are still unsure whether this is a truly unique cultural trait shared by most African cultures or if it is due to our incomplete knowledge. Also, some well-known fossil sites, such as the Kem Kem layer in Morocco and the Cradle of Humankind cave in South Africa, which are UNESCO World Heritage sites, have not yet provided strong evidence of indigenous knowledge.

This is unfortunate, because the tradition related to fossils can help unite the relationship between the local community and paleontologists, which in turn can help preserve important heritage sites. By exploring native paleontology in Africa, our team is piecing together forgotten fragments of the past that give recognition back to the local community.

We hope this will inspire the new generation of local paleoscience to follow in the footsteps of these first African fossil hunters.

Source: sci.news

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