Rhino fossil found by luck

A farmer from Elassona, northwestern Greece, has discovered, embedded in a large piece of coal, the jaw of a rhinoceros which lived up to 9 million years ago, paleontologists revealed yesterday.

The jaw measures 60×40 centimeters and has been examined by Athens University experts. It will soon be displayed at the Natural History Museum in Kozani.

Evangelos Velitzelos, a professor of geology at Athens University, said the find was “very significant.”

The professor said that the discovery could lead to other finds in a part of Greece that has already yielded significant relics. The world’s largest mastodon tusks were found in the area of Milia, near Grevena and close to the mine where the rhinoceros jaw was discovered.

Experts have not yet been able to date the fossil but they believe the rhinoceros lived 5 to 9 million years ago.

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