In an underwater graveyard scientists discover bones of giants from Madagascarâs past
Laurie Godfrey
âItâs just phenomenal â researcher Laurie Godfrey  a paleontologist at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst  said in a phone interview with The Washington Post. âA huge cache of fossils like this has never been explored before. Now that we know that itâs there  itâs opening up a new era in paleontological exploration.â
(Pietro Donaggio Bittner/ Courtesy of Laurie Godfrey)
The discovery  which National Geographic announced Tuesday  is just the first step in what  Godfrey  hopes will be a more thorough investigation of the caves. The initial sweep brought up so many fossils that researchers havenât even begun to dig into the sediments on the cave floors. Once they do   Godfrey  estimates theyâll find thousands of specimens from dozens of extinct species.
âIn a flooded cave the preservation can be just marvelous â  Godfrey  said. âNothingâs bothering them  nothingâs disturbing them.â
The quality of the fossils will be key for scientistsâ research into the causes of the animalsâ disappearance.  Godfrey  said that researchers will likely be able to obtain DNA samples from the specimens  carbon date them to see when they died  and examine them for cut marks or other signs of human butchering.
Reseachers Alfred Rosenberger  left  and Laurie Godfrey (Pietro Donaggio Bittner/ Courtesy of Laurie Godfrey)
Itâs long been understood that human arrival on Madagascar about 2 000 years ago coincided with the sudden die-off of much of the islandâs wildlife. Two-thirds of the species that lived on the island a millennium ago are now extinct  in part because of changes caused by humans   Godfrey  said. Whatâs not clear is exactly how those changes led to the animalsâ demise.
âItâs just phenomenal  [TGT] said in a phone interview with The Washington Post. âA huge cache of fossils like this has never been explored before. Now that we know that itâs there  itâs opening up a new era in paleontological exploration.â
(Pietro Donaggio Bittner/ Courtesy of Laurie Godfrey)
The discovery  which National Geographic announced Tuesday  is just the first step in what   [TGT] hopes will be a more thorough investigation of the caves. The initial sweep brought up so many fossils that researchers havenât even begun to dig into the sediments on the cave floors. Once they do    [TGT] estimates theyâll find thousands of specimens from dozens of extinct species.
âIn a flooded cave the preservation can be just marvelous â   [TGT] said. âNothingâs bothering them  nothingâs disturbing them.â
The quality of the fossils will be key for scientistsâ research into the causes of the animalsâ disappearance.   [TGT] said that researchers will likely be able to obtain DNA samples from the specimens  carbon date them to see when they died  and examine them for cut marks or other signs of human butchering.
Reseachers Alfred Rosenberger  left  and Laurie Godfrey (Pietro Donaggio Bittner/ Courtesy of Laurie Godfrey)
Itâs long been understood that human arrival on Madagascar about 2 000 years ago coincided with the sudden die-off of much of the islandâs wildlife. Two-thirds of the species that lived on the island a millennium ago are now extinct  in part because of changes caused by humans    [TGT] said. Whatâs not clear is exactly how those changes led to the animalsâ demise.