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In-Depth Information
allies, became a political icon to a degree
unattained by any other work of art.
Picasso stipulated that it not be displayed
in Spain until the dictatorship had been
abolished in that country. Its installation in
1992 was a matter of great emotion as well
as national pride.
giant dinosaur of the late Jurassic age. By
1998 enough research had been pursued by
paleontologists to inspire an International
Dinosaur Conference at Lisbon. Scientists
from all over the world gathered to hear
reports on a plethora of ancient reptilian
remains that had only within recent decades
been identified and rescued from the realms
of fantasy and ignorant supposition.
Among the discoveries that came to light
in the last years of the 20th century were
deposits of bones, rock quarries full of fos-
sils, and even dinosaur nests still contain-
ing eggs laid millions of years ago, some
with embryos still intact. Portugal has in
fact emerged as a “showcase” for dinosaur
remains, a point celebrated by the govern-
ment's issuance of a set of postage stamps
bearing striking images of some of the pre-
historic residents of the country. Thanks to
ongoing investigations and careful uncov-
ering of long-ignored sites, visitors can now
gaze upon a sauropod trackway located
(conveniently for overseas visitors) near
the shrine at F
ÁTIMA
. This trackway, at
some 300 feet, is the longest ever discov-
ered, and at an estimated 175 million years,
they are also “the oldest known wide-
gauge sauropod footprints.” Portugal has at
long last become aware of its Jurassic heri-
tage. Remains such as those identified near
Fátima and Lourinha, must, however, con-
tend for official protection with the
demands of developers, road builders, and
engineers seeking sites for new dams and
irrigation projects.
In Spain an awareness of the country's
prehistory was stimulated in the 19th cen-
tury after the great Darwinian debates had
roused the consciousness of all Europe. The
entrance to a cave system at Altamira, near
Santander, in the north of Spain, had been
prehistoric discoveries in Iberia
The Iberian Peninsula was for thousands of
years a land upon which history was made
and from which its inhabitants ventured
forth to make dazzling discoveries in other
parts of the world. It has only been in recent
times that scientists and scholars have
looked beneath the surface of Iberia to
explore its prehistory and to investigate
those, both animal and human, who once
roamed its plains and mountains.
Portuguese farmers and traders who, in
the course of their work, periodically found
gigantic footprints and bizarre fossil remains
had no trouble in explaining these things to
themselves: Like the inhabitants of other
parts of Europe and Asia, they concluded
that these were relics of wondrous creatures
and fabulous monsters that had once dwelled
on earth. Often Portuguese Christians cre-
ated pious legends to link such remains with
biblical times. For instance, on the Atlantic
coast, at Cape Espichel, near L
ISBON
, a set of
huge tracks leading up from the shore was
said to have been left by a gigantic mule who
appeared miraculously to save the Virgin
Mary from shipwreck. The being was said to
have carried her on its back to the top of the
cliff. A medieval chapel at the spot, known
as the Church of Our Lady of the Mule, com-
memorated this pious tale.
Seven hundred years later, in 1976, sci-
entists identified the footprints as those of a
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