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Poland To Open Dinosaur Museum After Recent Discoveries

Posted on: Thursday, 7 August 2008, 09:35 CDT

On Thursday, Poland will open a museum to exhibit the remains of an ancestor of Tyrannosaurus Rex. 

Paleontologists have been flocking to the brickyard in Lipie Slaskie, where Polish Science Academy researchers found a 200 million year old incomplete skeleton.

"This place is unique," said Grzegorz Niedzwiedzki, one of the discoverers.

"Not only have we found our dinosaur here, but also a mammal-type reptile, dicynodon, and some remains of other flying dinosaurs as well as plants. And it's all just 5 meters (16 ft 5 in) deep."

In the 1990’s, two mammoth tusks where found at the same brickyard site which rests on a prehistoric riverbed.

Now researchers and students from all over Poland want to test their luck at the brickyard, located in the small village of Lipie Slaskie.

Discoveries are made in the clay every few minutes. 

"One of the students just found this. We don't yet know what that could be," said Niedzwiedzki while showing a half-meter bone. "But the ancestor of the T-Rex beats it all."

The dinosaur, dubbed the “Dragon,” was nearly 5 meters long and walked on two legs.  The creature also had teeth 7 centimeters long.

A life-size drawing of the “Dragon” will be displayed in Lisowice along with parts of a skull, leg bones, and vertebrae.

"It all started from minerals. When a collector came to Lipie Slaskie to look for pyrite two years ago he found the first bone," said Marek Blyszcz, a local representative. "It was thought to be a cow's bone."

"But, luckily, he contacted paleontologists."

Blyszcz organized the museum at nighttime to keep it a secret until last week’s announcement.  The museum also features parts of the dicynodon, said to be the largest ever uncovered.

Authorities hope to keep the 1920’s brickyard open, as it employs 20 of the 1,000 residents of Lisowice.

"We hope it will give us new jobs in tourism," Blyszcz said.

Blyszcz and Niedzwiedzki both regret the pieces of history that could have possibly been lost in the brickyard.

"What else could we have found if it wasn't ground into bricks?" Niedzwiedzki asks. "That we will never know," says Blyszcz.

Image Courtesy Wikipedia

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On the Net:

• Polish Academy of Sciences

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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