The Dragon Bones of Riodeva
📍 Riodeva, Sierra de Javalambre, Teruel
The Dragon Bones of Riodeva In 1997, paleontologists discovered something extraordinary in the badlands near Riodeva: the fossilized remains of Turiasaurus riodevensis, one of the largest dinosaurs ever found in Europe. The beast had been truly colossal—over thirty meters long, weighing perhaps forty tons, a sauropod that shook the earth when it walked 145 million years ago during the Late Jurassic period. But locals weren't surprised. They'd known about the dragon bones for centuries. Medieval records speak of "huesos de dragón" found in the cliffs—massive bones that peasants occasionally unearthed while working fields or digging wells. The Church taught that these were remains of giants who lived before Noah's flood, or perhaps bones of dragons slain by saints. No one imagined they migh…