A team of archaeologists and palaeontologists has unearthed four fossils of glyptodonts, the giant ancestor of the armadillo, after a herder noticed the remains in the dry bed of a stream in the Bolívar district, in central Argentina, when he was taking his cattle to graze.

“On our first visit, we went to confirm the presence of some fossils that apparently were two glyptodonts, but when the rescue began we detected two more shells,” explains archaeologist Pablo Messineo. It is the first time that four glyptodonts have been found together, and it is an interesting find because it was believed that they led solitary lives.

The glyptodont was a large mammal that inhabited the grᴀsslands of an extensive plain known as the Argentine pampas. Although further studies will be needed to confirm this, researchers believe that the fossils were buried in sediment from the late Pleistocene, so they died more than 20,000 years ago, probably bogged down while looking for water.

The fossils were covered in plaster and burlap for extraction. Now scientists are working on their preservation and the first studies of the samples. The study of the fossils and the geology of the area could reveal new details about the environment in which these animals lived until their extinction, 10,000 years ago, and in which the first human settlers of the pampas lived.