Workmen unearth bones of early reptile

TANGERANG: Several workmen digging near a beach in Ketapang subdistrict in Tangerang came across an assortment of bones, which at first sight, looked like they belonged to a large reptile that existed in prehistoric times, an expert has said.

One of the workmen, Maksum, said that the bones were discovered when he and the others had dug down some 15 meters on Wednesday.

"We first thought that they were just stones because they were hard, but as we continued digging we found that the arrangement of the bones resembled a crouching Komodo dragon," he told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

The bones have been placed in dozens of large bags by local residents for further research.

Separately, the chief of the Tourism and Cultural Agency in the regency, Darmawan Hidayat, said that the discovery had been reported to the Banten provincial archeological agency.

"We don't know if the bones belong to a large Komodo dragon because we haven't seen them yet," he said, adding that he would first research the types of large extinct reptiles that had roamed the regency in prehistoric times. --JP