Posted on 06/26/2019 6:08:26 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Inside a Crimean cave was a gigantic ancient mystery just waiting to be uncovered: a bird so large that it weighed nearly as much as an adult polar bear.
Giant birds once roamed Madagascar, New Zealand and Australia. The latest fossil find, an intriguing fossilized femur, was recently found in Taurida Cave on the northern coast of the Black Sea.
It was discovered along with other fossils, including bison bones, that helped researchers date the now-extinct giant bird to between 1.5 million and 2 million years ago.
When the first early human ancestors arrived in Europe, they might have encountered these birds. The researchers think the bird probably reached the Black Sea region by crossing Turkey and the Southern Caucasus.
The large birds could have provided early humans with meat, bones, feathers and eggshells.
This is the first time researchers have found a bird like this in Earth's Northern Hemisphere and the first time the size of the bird, named Pachystruthio dmanisensis, has been identified.
It probably stood 11½ feet tall and couldn't fly -- but this bird was fast. It was similar to elephant birds that went extinct in the 1700s, which were usually hindered by size when it came to speed, but the femur found as part of the fossil was long and slender, making for a better runner.
The femur is similar to that of the modern ostrich, which can reach a top speed of 43 miles per hour.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
A really deep barbecue pit. Did the Indians barbecue buffalo?
:^) They didn't cook animals whole, AFAIK -- they'd butcher it out into strips and use natural dessication (wind, cold) to produce jerky, then cut off or bite away.
Lol. What about the Siberian guy who was attacked by a bear, drug into its cave and lived there for a month before being rescued.???
I heard he struggled with the rescuers, shouting that he wanted one last kiss goodbye.
LOL!
And to this day, we eat turkey once a year in its memory.
I’m sure they used a variety of techniques. American Indians would immediately eat raw liver of a large animal. Most nutritious part of the animal and rather perishable. I’m sure some were chunks roasted over fire. For large groups probably a pit roast, and the drying and pemecin type sausage making for long term supplies.
:^)
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