PREMIUM
News

Tracks on Broken River push back ancient timeline

This image provided by Professor Per Erik Ahlberg shows a slab of sandstone found at Barjarg from a reptile-like animal that lived around 350 million years ago. The footprints are highlighted in yellow (front feet) and blue (back feet) and show the movements of three similar animals, researchers say. Photo by Grzegorz Niedzwiedzki

A discovery of ancient animal tracks pressed into the mud near the Broken River is making waves around the archaeological world.

The investigation into the tracks, which has drawn interest from international academics, is described in the latest issue of the prestigious magazine Nature.

The tracks were discovered by amateur archaeological sleuths near Barjarg, about 40km south of Benalla.

This image provided by Professor Per Erik Ahlberg shows an artist’s illustration of the possible appearance of a reptile-like creature that lived around 350 million years ago in what’s now Australia. The animal was around 80cm long and its feet had long fingers and claws. Photo by Marcin Ambrozik

The discovery pushes back the earliest discovery of four footed reptile like animals, in the world, 35 million to 40 million years earlier than the discovery of reptile-like animals, known as amniotes, according to the researchers.

This challenges the widely accepted timeline.

The tracks were discovered by independent researchers Craig A. Eury and John Eason from Jamieson.

One of the authors of the Nature article, Professor John Long from Flinders University, South Australia, said the discovery was a “gold medal for Australian palaeontology.

”It’s a remarkable fossil find,“ he said.

He also believes that there are more fossils waiting to be discovered.

“The Mansfield area is rich for pickings,” he said.

According to the Nature article, shortly after rainfall, while the ground was still moist, a trackway was made by an animal that left well-defined foot impressions.

“Sometime later, when the ground had begun to dry and harden, another trackway was made that consists largely of well-preserved claw scratches with faint accompanying footprints,” the article said.

“The total body length is impossible to determine because neck plus head length and tail length are unknown, but applying the proportions of a modern water monitor, which has a broadly similar foot morphology, gives a suggested length in the region of 80cm.”

For the original Nature article, go to: tinyurl.com/49rwvr2h

Benalla Ensign