JOSÉ LUÍS SOUSA/LUSA
A whale bone presumably thousands of years old.
Pelvic bone “is no longer modern” but it is not fossil bones. Portuguese scientist Sílvia Curado found it by chance on Buarcos beach. “It wouldn’t be a stone.”
A whale bone presumably thousands of years old, according to a paleontologist from the University of Coimbra (UC), was identified in Buarcos beachnorth of the city of Figueira da Foz.
O pelvic boneperfectly asymmetrical, about 1.5 meters long by one meter wide and hundreds of kilos in weight, was discovered in the middle of the afternoon on the so-called Pedra Grande beach, by Sílvia Curadoa Portuguese scientist based in the USA, who was walking there accompanied by family members, the Lusa agency found at the scene.
“This is one of our favorite places in Figueira da Foz. I was walking with my nephew and came across this structure, which was not made of stone, because it is too symmetrical, I approached it and saw that it was a bone from a large animal and came to the conclusion that it was a pelvic bone from a whale”, said Sílvia Curado, a finding also confirmed, on site, by a biologist.
Following the scientist’s discovery, Lusa contacted Pedro Callapezpaleontologist from the UC Earth Sciences department, who, given the images of the discovery, particularly the bone structure in question, anticipated that it was a bone thousands of years old.
“What I can say is that, from the photographs, the state of degradation of the bones itself appears to be that of an individual that is no longer modern. It is relatively common, on the coast of Figueira, north of Cape Mondego, to see ancient sands that are on the continental shelf, which are sands from the time of the last glaciation. These are sands that are thousands of years old, sometimes tens of thousands of years old”, explained the researcher.
“And it is very possible that it could have been a whale bone — from a sperm whaleeventually, it would have to be confirmed — that it was buried a few thousand years ago. And it is quite possible that during the storms there was an exhumation of these bones that washed up on the coast”, observed Pedro Callapez.
“They could be older bones, thousands of years old, they are not fossil bonesif it were a fossil it would have to have some cementation and also a matrix placed in the cavities, in the bones and it is not, it is different”, added the specialist.
Pedro Callapez thus ruled out the hypothesis that it was a dinosaur bone: “It’s very different from that. But these are still bones with an ancient appearance. I would almost venture to say that they look like Pleistocene bones, which, in the meantime, washed up on the coast”, he added.
The researcher also said that this could be an interesting piece to be studied by museology specialists, namely at the Figueira da Foz Municipal Museum.
