User:Abyssal/Prehistory of South America/DYK/17

• ... that multiple Leptocleidus skeletons have been found preserved as gemstone quality opal over the course of the history of plesiosaur research?

• ...that though no fossil grasses have been discovered, the earliest-known grassland ecosystem, the 30+ million-year-old Tinguiririca fauna of Chile, can be detected through the grazers' teeth?

• ... that highlights from the history of dromaeosaurid research include a skeleton of Velociraptor preserved in combat with a Protoceratops, the gigantic Utahraptor, and tiny four-winged Microraptor?

• ... that the Asana archaeological site, occupied over the course of 8,000 years, is located by the Asana River, a tributary of the Osmore River (river valley pictured)?

• ... that Ecuadorian archaeologist Jacinto Jijón y Caamaño believed that the Manteño civilization operated as a trading ring, like the Hanseatic League?