Sumith Prasad
In the sixth episode of Paramount+’s Western series ‘Lawmen: Bass Reeves,’ Texas Ranger and former Confederate soldier Esau Pierce talks to Bass Reeves about the enormous bones he discovered at his ranch. As per Pierce, the bones belong to “giants” and “monsters.” He adds that they are called Angel Bones AKA Huesos de Angeles in Texas. Although Pierce talks about the same to make it clear that he knows what monsters among humans are, his words shed light on the rich paleontological history of the state, which was once the home of some of the biggest creatures that ever existed on the planet!
The Ancient Past of Texas
Texas is one of the states which can boast unignorable relevance as far as prehistoric fossils are concerned. Over the years, paleontologists and geologists have unearthed the remains of several giant creatures that once lived on the planet from across the state. The creatures range from dinosaurs to mammoths. None of these remains, however, belong to human-like creatures. It is also unclear whether these were referred to as Angel Bones AKA Huesos de Angeles in the nineteenth century. If Pierce is referring to the remains of these creatures, regardless of what they were or are called, they are real.
As per sources, fossils of around twenty-one dinosaurs were found across Texas. Big Bend National Park, located in West Texas, was once the home of several of these creatures. The remains of alamosaurus, a sauropod dinosaur, were discovered in the region by a graduate student from the University of Texas at Dallas. Paleontologists were then able to excavate partial pelvic bones and ten articulated cervical vertebrae of an adult alamosaurus that was around a hundred feet in length. The fossil was transported to the Dallas Museum of Natural History for research.
Similarly, the national park was home to the Columbian mammoth, the largest herbivore that lived during the Ice Age. As far as new findings are concerned, a group of scientists from The University of Texas at Austin discovered bone fragments from the limbs and backbone of a plesiosaur, an extinct marine reptile, in the Malone Mountains of West Texas. The museums located across the state, ranging from the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas to the Museum of South Texas History in Edinburg shed light on Texas’ history by displaying fossils and remains of these creatures.
In the show, Pierce talks about these fossils to let Bass know that he is someone who sleeps on the remains of these monsters. The Texas Ranger, through his words, tries to show the deputy marshal that he is fearless and ruthless.
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