Man Stumbles On 45 million Years Old Fossil During Nature Trip
Ramazan Bostanci, 43, an electrician who lives in the Black Sea region of Turkey, in the province of Karabuk, which is 100 kilometres inland from the sea and has no coast, found a stone, that later found out to be a fossil belonging to a marine creature, during one of his trekking trips to the forest on 19th May.
Ramazan, who was interested in fossils as an amateur, thought that the stone might be a fossil because of its interesting look, and brought it home with him.
Ramazan, who did some research on the stone, took photographs of the stone and sent it to some groups that were doing research on the fossils. Some palaeontologists, who saw the photographs of the stone, contacted Ramazan and said that they wanted to meet with him and examine the stone.
The first examinations made on the stone showed that it was a fossil of a marine creature from 45 million years ago.
Ramazan, who told Newsflash that he is so excited about the fossil, added, “I think that finding a fossil of such a marine creature in a province far away from the sea is very interesting. It shows that millions of years ago there was a sea somewhere here. This is why the fossil is priceless to me.”
Stating that his family was not interested in the stone at first but when the stone turned out to be a fossil and the local media wanted to interview them, they were surprised, Ramazan said, “Paleontologists have said that it may belong to a marine creature living in the Tethys Ocean. There is no museum in our city. I keep the fossil and do not know what to do with it just yet.”
The Tethys Ocean, also known as the Tethys Sea, is the ancient ocean stretching from west to east between Gondwana and Laurasia, pieces of the supercontinent Pangea, during the Early Tertiary Period. (https://bit.ly/3vikYxF)
Today, what is left of the Tethys Ocean are the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, the Aral Sea and lastly, the Caspian Sea.
The Mediterranean Sea surrounds more than 20 countries, including Turkey. The Black Sea is bordered by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine.
The Aral Sea, formerly known as the fourth largest lake in the world, has borders Uzbekistan and parts of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, and Iran. And the Caspian Sea, which is the world’s largest inland body of water, is bounded by Kazakhstan, Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan.
The picture shows the fossil of a marine creature estimated to date back to 45 million years, found in the landlocked Turkish province of Karabuk during a nature walk by Ramazan Bostanci, 43, on 19th May 2021. (Ramazan Bostanci/Newsflash) 
The picture shows the fossil of a marine creature estimated to date back to 45 million years, found in the landlocked Turkish province of Karabuk during a nature walk by Ramazan Bostanci, 43, on 19th May 2021. (Ramazan Bostanci/Newsflash)
(T4 / ends)
