A man carrying out construction work in his backyard made a discovery that sounds almost impossible: fossilized bones belonging to a gigantic dinosaur were buried beneath his property.
The extraordinary find was first made in 2017 in Pombal, Portugal. Years later, paleontologists from Portugal and Spain have identified the remains as potentially belonging to a sauropod measuring around 82 feet long and 39 feet tall.
If confirmed, the animal could rank among — and potentially be — the largest dinosaur ever discovered in Europe.
Sauropods were enormous plant-eating dinosaurs known for their extraordinarily long necks and tails. They walked on four legs and dominated parts of the planet between roughly 160 and 100 million years ago.
But the most intriguing part of the discovery may be what remains underground.
Researchers studying the position and preservation of the enormous bones removed from the backyard believe additional parts of the dinosaur could still be buried beneath the property.
That means the excavation may be far from over.
What began as ordinary construction work has potentially opened a window into a prehistoric giant that stood several stories tall and weighed far more than any animal alive in Europe today.
For paleontologists, the backyard is now more than someone’s property — it could be an enormous prehistoric time capsule.
And when excavation continues, researchers may finally discover just how much of this colossal dinosaur is still hidden beneath the ground.