Young Archaeologist Makes Discovery That Changes History

Science says that the universe has existed for some 13.7 billion years, while human existence is tracked to a few thousand years ago. That being true, means that we’ve probably been around for something like less than 1% of the overall existence on earth. That’s pretty much nothing! So when a French student made the discovery of a lifetime, even scientists and archeologists had a hard time handling it.

An Opportunity

For a French student, Maxime Lasseron, getting experience in his field was very important during his studies. He had always been passionate about making discoveries and finding new things to explore, so when he got the opportunity to dig a historic site, he felt that that was the opportunity of a lifetime.

Humankind had so many species and organisms proceeding us, that the length of discoveries to be made is still yet to be done.

A Promising Site

For Maxime, the opportunity was not only exciting and fun, but it would also give him a really good experience to put on his resume. In that field, he knew how important it would be to have career experience that was appealing to future employers. But he never suspected that he was about to make a discovery that could potentially rewrite the course of French history.

Just before, he was amongst other students in the Paris National Museum of Natural History. One day, he overheard two professors discussing how promising the site could be for paleontologists, as it hadn’t been explored in-depth before.

Applying For The Expedition

For any paleontologist, the prospect of exploring a site that is full of potential is a dream, let alone for a young student who was at the beginning of his doctoral career. Without thinking too much about it, Maxime applied to be a part of the team that was about to explore the site.

He was thrilled when he got his acceptance letter and was about to spend a whole summer at the site of Angelic-Charente. He was aware that the site wasn’t the most glamorous and comfortable one, but the possibility of making a discovery was too exciting to put too much thought into small details.

Getting Prepared

Before heading to the site, Maxime did as much research as he could. He found out that a number of excavators had made a discovery here and there, both small and big ones. These discoveries only opened the curiosity of others, clearly pointing towards the fact that the site was promising, and yet many important discoveries were still to be made.

For Maxime, it was, in fact, encouraging that others had found unique vintage findings, something that could be discouraging for other paleontologists. For instance, paleontologists and excavators who had been at the site prior to that summer of 2019 had found tons of important fossils.

Incredible Discoveries

With these discoveries, paleontologists managed to track some millions of years that covered a whole period of geological history. In 2014, scientists found the tracks of a dinosaur toe, and couldn’t help but feel incredibly excited with such a giant find.

The toe measured at over 13 inches in length, proving to be a gigantic species, bigger than anyone could have ever imagined. Over the past years, a whopping 7,000 dinosaur bones were found at Angeac-Charente. While this was enormous, a bigger discovery was still yet to be made, and for the surprise of everyone, it would be done by a young student full of dreams and ambitions.

Something Smooth and Hard

On the day of departure, Maxime was more than ready. They arrived at the site with their gear and completely protected, and started digging. Everyone was about to get real dirty, but that was just a part of the job, and they were all aware of it when they chose it.

At some point, Maxime bumped into something that initially felt smooth but surprisingly hard. He felt his hands shaking as he tried to grab it and to put away the soil that covered its surface.

Calling His Colleagues

As he attempted to grab the object, he realized that the thing simply kept moving. At that point, he decided to call his colleagues for a second opinion on what the thing in front of his eyes could be.

His colleagues approached him with their spades, touching the ground carefully in order to figure out what it was. An exciting feeling took over the atmosphere, and everyone just kept repeating: ‘there’s more.’ No one could really fathom what was about to happen.

A Colossal Dinosaur Bone

Everyone had to be careful in order not to damage whatever Maxime had just found. They grabbed each item and started putting them together, just like a puzzle. At some point, they reached shape. They had found a huge bone that was taken apart. Instantly, a dinosaur’s bone came to mind.

It was such a colossal bone that it could easily be the bone of a Tyrannosaurus rex. As things started to make more and more sense, Maxime couldn’t wait to go measure it from tip to end.

A Huge Bone

The bone, which seemed to be a femur, measured at six and a half feet. It was simply gigantic, figuratively, and physically. The bone was so big that in order to take it from the site back to the lab in Paris for it to be studied further, the team of scientists had to hire a crane.

It was purely impossible to move the bone just with human force, as it weighed over 1,100 pounds in total.

Taking It Back For Examination

When the bone finally arrived in Paris, all that Maxime could do was wait for a final word from specialists. As he had suspected, the bone’s owner was indeed a gigantic species. He had just done yet another breakthrough in science.

It turned out that Maxime had discovered the bones of one of the oldest and largest dinosaurs to have ever existed. He had accidentally dug up the remains of what was called a sauropod, a herbivore with a huge neck.

A Funding Incentive

The discovery reached the ears of Angelic-Charente’s lead operator, Jean-François Tournepiche, who congratulated Maxime for his incredible find. The remains were so specific that they allowed scientists to track down the anatomy of the monstrous species.

The femur was detailed enough to allow paleontologists to locate various muscles and tendons, which wasn’t always that easy in bone discoveries. According to Tournepiche, due to the rare find, the institute would have funding for the next 30 years.

A Promising Future

Scientists knew how important that information was. In the field of paleontology, funding is hard to find and to maintain, so important discoveries such as Maxime’s need to be constantly made so that funding keeps coming in.

He was thrilled. Finding the sauropod bone also meant that the future dig was even more promising, as other Mesozoic vintage finds could be made in a short amount of time. Clearly, the dig was about to continue, with enthusiastic and refreshed scientists ready to make the next big discovery.

Not The Only One

For Maxime himself, he knew that the start of his career had just taken a huge step, and he was, in fact, in an advantageous position in comparison to his colleagues. But in order to keep the discoveries coming, he knew that he couldn’t do it alone.

The work of a paleontologist advances much quicker and efficiently if it’s done by various scientists, and that’s what he looked forward to the most. The discoveries made collectively to uncover some of the earth’s most incredible secrets. Miles away from Angeac-Charente, another student had a similar dream.

The Hell Creek

The Hell Creek Formation is one of the most interesting places on earth for a paleontologist. The site is spread across three different places, the Dakotas, Montana, and Wyoming. The whole place is composed of sandstones, amazing mudstones, and clay, a paleontologist’s dream.

Scientists believe that the site exists for some 65 million years, being one of the oldest deposits in the world’s history. In addition to being dated to such a long time ago, the place is also known to be a fossil treasure site.

A Scientist’s Dream

Famous paleontologist Barnum Brown, also known as ‘Mr. Bone’, found the first-ever documented remains of the Tyrannosaurus Rex. This finding opened the space for other scientists and was not disappointed.

Today, scientists from all over the world dream of having a chance to work on the hotspot for all the fossil hunters out there. When college student, Harrison Duran, heard about the site, he knew that that was about to be his next adventure.

Doing It With A Partner

He was in his 5th year of a Biology Degree at the University of California. Just like Maxime, he applied for it and was ecstatic to be accepted. He was about to join an excavation team in the summer of 2019.

But Harrison knew he needed a buddy during his adventure, and therefore contacted fellow fossil hunter, Micahel Kjelland, who he had met at a conference. Together, the two fossil enthusiasts got ready for the dig of their lives.

Digging And Digging

Kjelland was familiar with the Hell Creek Formation, so the two made the perfect pair. They both arrived in Montana sometime in June 2019. They dug for days without finding anything but dirt. Without losing their enthusiasm and hope, on the 4th day of digging, they finally came across something interesting.

In front of their eyes, there was a fossilized skull. After cleaning it and examining it, the men agreed that they had found the face of a Triceratops.

Finding Alice

With it, they also found a bunch of fossilized tree leaves and wood, making it much easier to track how the creature had died. They were so excited that they even named the fossil “Alice.”

Now, they had the hard task of taking the fossil out of the ground and taking it back to examination. The excavation alone took about a week, as they had to be very careful not to damage the skull of Alice.

Carefully Ready To Go

When they finally managed to dig up the whole structure, they started gluing and taking care of Alice. They used foil and plaster in order to prepare the fossil for transport to a place where they could do further research. After wrapping the whole thing in memory foam, the fossil was ready for transport.

Due to their colossal find, the two scientists founded a nonprofit called Fossil Excavators, with the intent of educating people about the use and importance of fossils.

Further Research On Alice

They also hoped to do more research on Alice with the funds from the organization, hoping to share her with the world one day. They both plan to go back to the site and find more rare fossils, but for now, they are dedicating themselves to the organization and to doing all the research they can on Alice.

After all, it is important to take appropriate and careful steps in the profession, so that the discovery is complete with all of its unknown details.

DePalma

For other scientists, though, it is still an exciting prospect to go to Hell Creek. In addition to the two young scientists’ discovery, there have been many encouraging findings on the site. For example, a couple of years ago, a researcher and paleontologist named Robert DePalma, discovered a life-changing vintage piece near Bowman, North Dakota.

DePalma and his team found the teeth of mosasaur, known as one of the most dangerous reptilian predators, to have ever existed.

A Plausible Theory

The Ocean creature dates back to the early Cretaceous period, stunning the whole team. No one had ever thought that such a creature could have existed in the prehistoric area of North Dakota. The team then started creating various theories about how that could have happened.

One of the first theories was the possibility that tektite fragments were scattered all over the place due to a possible asteroid that killed the dinosaurs? While DePalma wasn’t exactly convinced, it was definitely a theory.

Sharing The News

Researchers spent weeks trying to wrap their heads around various theories, and the discovery continued to feel like a breakthrough. Even though other scientists didn’t agree, DePalma decided that the find was too big not to be shared. So he decided to share the information with The New Yorker, sharing very exclusive details of the discovery.

But when the story broke, Paleontologists from all over the world were furious, because they believed that the story should have been shared with a reputable scientific journal. Still, at least the world got to know about this huge discovery, and DePalma remained one of the most controversial paleontologists in the world.