A 9-million-year-old saber-toothed cat skull fossil, thought to be the first of its kind in the world, has been found

In the excavation, which was attended by paleoanthropologists, paleontologists, geologists and students from various universities, a 9-million-year-old saber-toothed cat skull fossil, thought to be the first of its kind in the world, was found.

The discovery took place in Denizli’s Tavas district in western Türkiye.

The scientific advisor of the excavations, Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University Anthropology Department Faculty Member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmet İhsan Aytek said that they have found many animal fossils in their researches in the region so far.

To date, fossils of elephants, crocodiles, giraffes, a species from the feline family, arrowed hedgehogs and birds have been unearthed.

Ahmet İhsan Aytek said, “We found 400 fossils belonging to 25 animals in 2022 and 2023 in the excavations we carried out jointly with Eberhard Karls University in Germany. Until today, we have increased this number to 500. The majority of our animals found last year were mammals, giraffe, elephant, rhinoceros, horse, horned animals, hyena, felines, anteaters. In previous years we found two different bird species. We also had two different reptiles, a turtle and a crocodile.”

“Our most important discovery this year is the skull of one of the animals belonging to the felines, whose long bones we found in previous years. We think that the skull, which is almost complete, is one of the best preserved specimens in Anatolia, perhaps even in the world. We will identify the species after a detailed study, but our first observations suggest that it is one of the early forms of saber-toothed cats. When we look at the literature, we can say that it is the first example in Anatolia. There is even a possibility that this fossil belongs to a new species. If so, it will be the first example of this species in the world. We also found a canine tooth belonging to our other cat, which will give us an important advantage in identifying the species.”

Cover Photo: AA