In 1878, Belgian coal miners drilling the Bernissart seam noticed bones that glittered like pyrite. What they uncovered underground was extraordinary: a large deposit containing multiple Iguanodon skeletons closely preserved together. The find mattered because it offered far more complete specimens than earlier, fragment-based research. With whole-body comparisons, scientists revised Iguanodon’s posture, leg structure, and the function of its distinctive thumb spike, shifting dinosaur paleontology from speculation to solid evidence.
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