The stone on the sand pile in front of the hole in the burrow looked unusual. Elongated and flat, and viewed from the side, it consisted of two layers, the interior of a different texture and darker color than the exterior. Nine-year-old Konstantin, who discovered it, was excited when he handed it to his father, Peter Kapustin: "It's a rib," he said spontaneously. That was a year ago. Konstantin, his brother and their father were standing in a meadow in the village of Weipersdorf in the Bavarian district of Erding and already suspected: they had stumbled upon a treasure trove of fossils.

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