Chapter 316: Its Teeth Are More Than Two Meters Long? What Animal is This? (3)
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“66666!”
“What a confident dumb*ss! I need this confidence!”
“Could it be ivory?” About half an hour later. A fossil of a large animal had been excavated.
“Yes, it is indeed ivory! And it seems there’s more!” Dr. Wu nodded, his face still filled with surprise.
“Alright, let us continue digging! This ivory is just a small part of it!” Luo Feng could not help but admit that the ivory was indeed huge, much larger than the teeth of any other animal.
Of course, such a fossil had a very distinct biological appearance. Even if Luo Feng did not mention it, upon seeing the curved and twisted bones, even the most inexperienced viewers in the livestream could probably deduce that it was ivory.
“Wow, this one piece of ivory is 2 meters long?”
“Mama Mia! What kind of elephant has such fearsome 2-meter-long teeth?”
“It should be a mammoth!”
“Can a mammoth’s teeth be 2 meters long?
“Can it not? It seems that the average is about 1.6 meters!”
“Yes, if you do not believe it, I have already looked it up on Baidu!”
As Luo Feng continued to dig, around 8 or 9 0’clock in the evening, the ancient elephant’s fossils were eventually unearthed in their entirety. “Holy crap, the overall length is more than 6 meters!”
“The height is about 3 meters!”
Even with only the remaining bones, one could imagine, through this skeleton, just how massive the elephant had been. With 2-meter-long tusks, it was truly speechless. However, the size of this ancient elephant was similar to that of modern elephants. As for the teeth, some modern elephants also have 2-meter-long tusks.
At this moment, Dr. Wu was very excited; this was a complete fossil of an ancient elephant.
“I think it should be an ancient Palaeoloxodon! Dr. Wu, what do you think?” Luo Feng asked.
“It should not be wrong!” Dr. Wu nodded, “With this size and the stone tools made of Oldowan, this elephant indeed lived during that era.”
“The ancient Palaeoloxodon lived about 10,000 to 200,000 years ago during the late Pleistocene and was the largest elephant in history, with an adult weight of 10-14 tons. Its main activity area was in North China and East China. The name comes from the fact that, when their molar teeth wore down to a certain degree, the central part of the tooth plate would expand into a rhomboid
snape:
“In 1994, a 5-7-meter-long, 2.8-meter-high ancient Palaeoloxodon fossil was unearthed at a construction site of the Zhongya Grand Hotel in China. It is dated to be about 30,000 to 50,000 years old and is the most complete Palaeoloxodon fossil found in the Yu West region, proving that the region had a tropical or subtropical climate 30,000 to 50,000 years ago.”
“However, the key point lies in the word “most complete.” It is the most complete compared to other Palaeoloxodon fossils. The actual fossil only accounts for about 10% of an entire elephant.”
“In other words, the most complete ancient Palaeoloxodon fossil in the world only accounts for about 10% of its original size. If a complete Palaeoloxodon fossil could be excavated, it would have significant research and display value, providing an essential basis for studying the evolutionary history of elephants and inferring the local ancient climate and environment.”
“Therefore, Dr. Wu must have thought of this, and that is why he was so excited. The fossils of this ancient gomphothere are incredibly precious!” “Dr. Wu, take your time examining it. I’ll keep digging!”
Half an hour later, with a clatter, Luo Feng uncovered another sharp fossil.
Could it be another gomphothere? Were they all hunted by ancient humans? However, the tooth was not that large, so it probably was not a fossil.
“A Saber-toothed tiger fossil, perhaps?” Dr. Wu suggested.
Meanwhile, on the other side, a member of the archaeological team surprisingly unearthed a complete animal fossil. Luo Feng and Dr. Wu examined it, and it appeared to be a Gets spotted deer, an animal from the late Middle Pleistocene period.
“Since we’ve uncovered so many things, we can further narrow down the range. The fossils in this area must be from the same period, around 150,000 years ago!” Luo Feng said, stepping on the muddy ground beneath his feet, and added, “The terrain here must have experienced a flash flood in the past, which dried up afterward, leaving no water behind. The stones nearby show signs of being submerged in water for many years.”
“And we have found gomphotheres here, as well as Ge’s spotted deer and short-toothed tigers!”
“So, I think that with the hunting skills of Homo erectus, they could not have hunted such fierce and large animals!”
As Luo Feng spoke, Dr. Wu’s eyes widened and he said, “If it’s not Homo Erectus, then according to the timeline, it should be early Homo Sapiens, right?”
Luo Feng nodded and said, “Yes, the brain capacity of Homo Erectus was not large enough. In other words, they were not smart enough! They were extremely lazy and not ambitious, completely content with just getting by. In prehistoric times, such an attitude would not have been conducive to survival! Hunting so many ferocious wild creatures seems more like the work of early Homo sapiens. Otherwise, Homo sapiens would not have become the sole winners, evolving into the humans of later generations.”
“Let’s keep digging and see if we can find any ancient human bones among these crafted stone tools and animal fossils, ” Luo Feng suggested.
Although Dr. Wu did not want to dampen their spirits, he still said, “Do not get your hopes up too high. I estimate that there won’t be any ancient human bones here. It’s already quite impressive to find stone tools left behind!” “Why do you say that?” Qin Rubing asked.
Dr. Wu explained, “Well, Rubing, the formation of fossils is extremely difficult. The conditions have to be perfect, and only a small number of fossils are formed out of the millions of dead organisms caused by natural disasters. So, finding Homo sapiens fossils here is very unlikely.”
“Moreover, these animal bones were probably left here by humans after they were killed. If Homo sapiens encountered a disaster, they would surely flee! So, the chances of finding human fossils are slim.”
As Luo Feng spoke, there was a clatter. Su Meiji’s shovel struck something. It seemed like an object?
Luo Feng quickly shone his headlamp on the spot. A skull, similar in size to that of a modern human, came into view.
“Human bones? A human skull?” Dr. Wu’s expression was one of excitement.
Luo Feng did not hesitate. He immediately began to excavate the surrounding area. However, the more he dug, the more human skulls he uncovered.
The first skull, then the second, and the third – this area was filled with ancient human skulls. How could this be? If they had truly encountered a disaster, the Homo Sapiens should have fled!
Even if they were unable to escape in time, they should have been able to put considerable distance from one another, and not result in such a dense group!
