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CAIS
ARCHAEOLOGICAL
& CULTURAL NEWS©
15
September 2005
By
the latest paleontological studies on the fossil
footprints of dinosaurs found near Kerman,
southeast of Iran, the probability of discovering
such paleontologic remains in central Iran has
augmented.
In terms of fossils and prehistoric remains, Iran
is considered one of the richest countries in the
world. Beside Kerman, Varzaghan and Maragheh in
northwest of Iran are among famous fossil rich
zones of the country. In the last two years,
Iranian paleontologists have managed to find
fossil remains of an enormous dinosaur which dates
back to over 1 million years ago.
“Discovering the extensions of Kerman fossil
rich zone towards central parts of Iran (north and
northwest of Kerman) like Tabas, Yazd, and
Khorasan, has led to the belief that traces of
such fossils possibly can be discovered in central
Iran,” said Amir Hossein Kokabinejad, a
paleontologist with Iran Natural History Museum.
Beside the discovery of coal mines in central
provinces, finding plant fossils, which proved the
conformity of the region’s vegetation with the
taste of herbivore dinosaurs, has contributed to
the hypothesis that the region was one of the
dinosaurs’ natural habitats, around 200 million
years ago.
Studies on fossils discovered in other countries
so far have indicated that dinosaurs appeared on
the earth some 230 to 235 million years ago in
Triassic era, turned the earth into their own
realm through the Jurassic era, and finally
disappeared mysteriously towards the end of
Cretaceous, about 160 million years ago. However,
in this part of the world, which is known as Iran
today, living conditions for dinosaurs was not
suitable through Triassic and Cretaceous.
“Studies on fossils discovered in Iran have
shown that Jurassic, especially Lower Jurassic era
(200 to 180 million years ago) was the best time
for Dinosaurs to breed and spread over the region.
However, because of sea coming in the land and
flooding a major part of the region during
Triassic and Cretaceous, and the undesirable
climatic conditions of the time, dinosaurs were
not able to sustain here,” added Kokabinejad.
Noting the formation of Shemshak and Hoojak
regions near Kerman, he continued, “Once having
warm and humid climate and vegetation comprising
primary plants and Gymnosperms, these regions were
an ideal natural habitat for dinosaurs of that
era, whose footprints fossils have discovered in
ripple mark sandstones.”
Kerman province, in southeast of Iran, has always
been renowned for its rich collection of
vertebrates fossils belonging to various eras and
periods. Paleontologists have unearthed countless
fossils in this region so far, ranging from those
of armored fish of Devonian era (395 to 365
million years ago) which is a subdivision of
Paleozoic, to dinosaurs of Mesozoic (Triassic,
Jurassic, and Cretaceous are subdivisions of this
geological era), and even mammals of upper
Tertiary dating back to 7 to 2 million years ago.
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