Corona Daily 150: Dinosaur Bones

Niger, the largest country in West Africa, has two thirds area in the Sahara desert. Niger gained independence in 1958, after decades of French rule.

In the 1960s, a French atomic energy team carried out digging in Niger, to find Uranium. Instead, they stumbled upon something huge, bluish and stony; identified later as the vertebral columns of a dinosaur.  This fortuitous find was only a beginning. It inspired several paleontologists to visit Niger and look for fossils from the Mesozoic era.

Professor Paul Sereno, a paleontologist from the University of Chicago, has been digging in Niger for the past thirty years. He calls Niger the best exposed but the least explored. Sereno has been credited with discovering nine species of dinosaurs previously unknown.

The Europeans and the Americans have found diverse fossils: flying reptiles, armored dogs, eleven species with long necks not yet identified. They roamed the desert nearly 200 million years ago. Excavations that can take months have found dinosaurs, mammals, even a Neolithic woman wearing an ivory bangle. Niger is so rich with fossils, an archeologist accompanying Sereno went behind the bushes for a comfort break, and spotted a 10,000-year-old human skull. In 2019, a man on a moped led the scientists to a hulking Spinosaurus (spine lizard).

In prehistoric times, the climate of the Sahara desert was wet, fertile and habitation-friendly, a phenomenon archeologists call the ‘Green Sahara’. It provided favourable conditions for hunting, agriculture and livestock breeding. (This example, by the way, shows what climate change can do to the places we inhabit today).

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Until the late 1980s, anyone could take the loot back to their own country and did. This also had practical reasons. The bones require preservation under controlled temperature to avoid their crumbling. Niger’s top museum is infested with termites. Many Niger bones are located in private collections in the USA, France and Italy. The British museum in London and Sereno’s Chicago lab hold a few specimens.

It was acknowledged by all parties that the dinosaur bones from Niger should return to Niger. A joint venture was conceived. Two new museums, one in the capital city of Niamey and another in the desert region of Agadez were planned. Niger earmarked the land. The project was called “the Niger Heritage”. It was estimated to cost tens of millions of dollars. The World bank and some other donors had expressed interest.

Archeologists, paleontologists, historians, architects and urban planners from America and Europe along with Niger leaders would develop the design concepts for the two sites. The Niamey museum would house dinosaur fossils, human burials and artifacts from pre-dynastic cultures. Agadez museum would preserve the language, art, music and customs of the nomadic people.

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In April last year, everything froze. Worse, some 20 tons of bones now sit in the middle of the Sahara.  Sereno’s team had crafted temporary coverings for many skeletons out of plaster. Sand was brushed over to hide them. Passersby would mistake anything protruding up for rocks. It is common for paleontologists to rebury dig sites before returning with movers. Sereno meant to come back to relocate the bones, but hasn’t managed to visit Niger for a year now.

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Niger is a dangerous place. Only this week, Islamic State militants killed 58 civilians including teenagers. In January, they had killed more than 100. Sereno and his team always move with armed bodyguards.

The Niger government has sent soldiers to guard the expanse from looters. Bandits roam these areas. Nomads have been recruited to keep an eye on the dinosaur bones and send regular text updates to Sereno. Coronavirus is spreading as well. Niger’s current museum made about $370 a day from visitors. Now it struggles to make $20 even on a weekend.

Professor Sereno is waiting for the end of the pandemic. He can then revive the Niger Heritage project. The dinosaur bones can return to Niger. Tourism can boost Niger’s economy. Until then, he also hopes bandits and terrorists won’t come anywhere near the twenty tons of bones in the desert.

Ravi