WORLD-CLASS DINOSAUR GRAVE FIND IN E CAPE
Experts gather after Sterkspruit shepherd stumbles over old bone
Shepherd Dumangwe Tyhobela of Sterkspruit is being credited with the exciting discovery of a massive dinosaur graveyard in the Eastern Cape.
The unique “bone bed” site near remote Qhemegha village is being hailed by scientists as one of the biggest fossil collections in the world.
At team of 11 scientists from five top universities – Oxford, Birmingham, Zurich, Wits and Johannesburg – are beavering away on the site.
Tyhobela, 56, who left school after Grade 5, is the toast of the tiny, remote village 25km north of Sterkspruit and 24km from the Tele border gate to Lesotho.
It was his determined pursuit to identify the strange bone-like stone he found in the veld that led to some of the world’s top paleontologists descending on the site to excavate.
Now villagers are hoping for academic spinoffs for schoolchildren, and future tourism.
Tyhobela told the Dispatch that on a cool afternoon in March 2016, while he was tending his sheep, he spotted an odd stone down a donga with a small stream running through it. He immediately thought of selling it to a sangoma for muthi.
“I had never seen such a big bone. It was bigger than a human skull. I took it to Mamulakeni Makaka, who was a bone thrower. But she chased me out of her sanctuary saying I must not bring bad luck to the village. She ordered me to return it to where I had taken it. She said these were bones of people who lived in the area many years ago,” said Tyhobeka.
Makaka was not far from the truth: the bone belonged to a dinosaur that lived 200 million years ago, according to scientists.
Tyhobela said his curiosity burned and he did not return the bone. When the sangoma died a few months later, he decided to carry on with his quest. “I was determined to find out what bone is this.
“I took it to another villager, James Siginyane Rhalane, who who has better education [high school]. We took it to another villager, Themba Jikajika, who is a teacher at Mahedi Junior Secondary School,” said Tyhobela. Jikajika and Rhalane both suspected it was a dinosaur fossil. A geography major, Jikajika said: “I wanted further confirmation and scientific investigation.”
Rhalane took the bone to the Senqu municipality’s education district office and was assisted by history subject advisor David Mei. “One did not need to have a PhD to know that these were dinosaur fossils , but I wanted to be sure,” said Rhalane.
Mei said: “I was clueless, but James was adamant that those were dinosaurs fossils. I was just shocked at how big and strong they were, but I wanted another opinion,” said Mei.
They phoned Wits University and arranged to have the bones taken there by Mei’s 24-yearold daughter Liphumile, who is a quantity surveyor in Johannesburg. “On seeing them, the professors confirmed they were genuine dinosaur fossils and they came and visited Qhemegha. This is big find for us – you do not normally find dinosaurs fossils everywhere. This will assist education development in our area and the Eastern Cape,” said Mei.
The scientists have dubbed the find the “Qhemegha bone bed site”.
The Daily Dispatch visited the site on Wednesday and met with a group of 11 scientists, including professors, students and academics who were carefully excavating.
Participating in the project were postdoctoral fellows and PhD and MSc students from Wits, UJ, Birmingham, Zurich, and Oxford. The team is led by Professor Jonah Choiniere of the University of the Witwatersrand, with assistance from Professor Roger Benson of the University of Oxford.
Choiniere said the discovery of [so many] dinosaur fossils in one place was the first of its kind in the world.
“By bone bed, we mean, essentially, a dinosaur graveyard – a place where lots of animals died together and were preserved. This is very uncommon in South Africa. As years go by, we will find more, especially when people know there is a great dinosaur discovery here.”
The scientists were seen gingerly digging into hard rocks to expose the ancient animal skeletons.
The scientists said they wanted to share their findings in a way that would benefit local pupils in maths and science. Many local people have visited the excavation over the last two weeks, and the site is a point of pride in the community.
Choiniere said: “The dinosaurs lived more than 200
The discovery of [so many] dinosaur fossils in one place is the first of its kind in the world
Professor Jonah Choiniere
Excavation team leader
Professor Jonah Choiniere, of the Evolutionary Studies Institute told the Dispatch: “We've made a major discovery”.
He said they found a giant plant eating dinosaur known as a sauropodomorph at the Qhemegha bone bed site.
It had a long neck, a tiny head, and probably walked on two legs. The preserved portion of the skeleton is the back half of the animal, including the ribs, backbone, hips, legs and the tail. It had claws on the hands and feet. The team estimates that the animal weighed about one ton. Its long neck and tail meant that it might have been 7m long.
The team estimates it weighed about one ton, about as much as a hippo