A fossil unearthed in western Japan has been identified as a leg joint of a large dinosaur that existed about 84 million years ago. Scientists say this is further proof that Japan was once connected to continental Asia.
The 30 centimeter-square fossil was discovered in an 84 million-year-old layer of earth in Nagasaki City in 2004. It was taken to the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum for cleaning and analysis.
The museum confirmed that the fossil is a left leg joint of an herbivorous dinosaur in the Hadrosaurus genus.
The dinosaur is believed to have been about 10 meters long and had several hundred teeth to chew hard plants.
The museum director, Yoichi Azuma, says fossils of Hadrosaurus are often found in China. He says the latest fossil from Nagasaki provides valuable proof that Japan and continental Asia had once been connected.
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