A dinosaur statue stands guard outside a temple, a hint at the ancient giants buried deep in the earth below making up northeastern Thailand's "dinosaur rush".
Researchers have found a trove of dinosaur fossils across the region, which holds the country's richest deposits, offering insight into the creatures that roamed the planet millions of years ago.
Prehistoric specimens from the region's sun-baked soil were identified this year as two new species - Southeast Asia's largest dinosaur Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis and the long-necked Uragasaurus kalasinensis.
They are the latest discoveries in a series that researchers at Mahasarakham University - which leads the field - hope will result in Thailand's 16th species within months.
"Thailand really is the hotspot for research and discovery" in Southeast Asia, said Richard Cloutier, a professor of palaeontology visiting from Canada's Universite du Quebec a Rimouski.
While China, Mongolia and Russia remain major fossil-hunting grounds, experts say the part of the Earth that is now Thailand offers important clues to dinosaur evolution.
"The timeframe of our discoveries fills a geological gap or missing link present in records of other countries," said Suravech Suteethorn, deputy director of the university's Palaeontological Research and Education Centre.
"Our local dinosaurs are like missing jigsaw pieces that help establish evolutionary connections, particularly around the Jurassic and Cretaceous period transition, approximately 140 million years ago."
Next big find
Many of the specimens confirmed this year were unearthed a decade or more ago, but needed research and verification before being identified. There are more waiting to be tested.
At the university, shelves groan with jagged pieces of spines, necks and legs that to an untrained eye resemble battered stones.
Countless more fossils remain in the ground, including at Phu Wiang National Park, two hours away, where Suravech and his veteran paleontologist father - and boss - Varuvudh work on a dig.
Under a makeshift roof offering protection from the monsoon rains, the pair are slowly uncovering the giant neck of a fossil they hope to confirm soon as Thailand's newest dinosaur.
Suravech was tight-lipped about the find, but said it would "wow" people.
"These new discoveries indicate the grandeur and richness of our country in the past," he told AFP.
Dinosaurs on a budget
Northeastern Thailand is particularly well placed for dinosaur discoveries, said Thitiwoot Sethapanichsakul, a PhD student at University College London who co-authored the Nagatitan paper in the journal Scientific Reports.
Its dry climate and sparse vegetation leave fossil-bearing rocks exposed, while its geology contains sedimentary layers of the right age to preserve dinosaur remains.
"I think the current 'dinosaur rush' in Thailand is hopefully just the beginning," he told AFP.
-AFP
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