Javier was a nine-year-old boy who lived with his parents in the hillside town of Ademus in the province of Valencia in Spain. Javier was a curious and energetic boy. His favourite pastime was to explore the hills and open fields around his town.

The neighbouring village of Río Deva, just 26 kilometres away from Ademus, was famous because of a great discovery there. In 2003, paleontologists found the bones of the largest dinosaur in Europe, in a wheat field near the little village. When it was alive, this animal was over 38 metres long and had the weight of seven elephants.

Javier liked dinosaurs more than anything else in the world. He also believed that there was an amazing dinosaur bone buried somewhere near his own town of Ademus. His dream was to be the first person to find it.

One summer morning, Javier was exploring in a field near a ravine just outside of the town. He looked up to see his two friends, Fernando and Pepe, running toward him with a colourful kite.

Let's fly it, Javier! they shouted.

Javier enjoyed playing with his friends. He quickly forgot about his exploring and grabbed the string of the kite. As he ran, the kite lifted into the sky. The boys cheered. Suddenly, the kite spun around and dove into the ravine.

I'll get it! shouted Javier.

He ran down into the ravine. As he reached for the kite, his foot caught on something.

He fell to the rocky ground with a crash.

His two friends ran up as he rubbed his head.

Are you okay? Pepe asked.

I think so, said Javier. He looked down at a rough grey object sticking out of the ground.

I tripped on that, he said.

It looks like a rock, said Fernando.

Javier looked carefully at the object.

I don't think it's a rock, he said excitedly. I think it's something else.

Let's pull it out, said Pepe.

No, said Javier. It's better to leave it right here.

Javier and the boys ran home to tell Javier's parents. Javier's father spoke to the mayor of the town, who contacted the paleontology foundation.

The next day, a paleontologist from the foundation came to the town. He followed Javier to the ravine and examined the boys' discovery.

It could be a dinosaur bone, he said. If it is, we'll need to determine how old it is.

How do you do that? asked Javier.

This bone was buried in sedimentary rock which lies in layers under the ground. We'll look for volcanic ash below and above this rock layer. Through a special process, we can find out the ages of those layers of ash. Then we'll know that the dinosaur died sometime between those two ages.

Soon many paleontologists began excavating the area around the bone. They found more bones, as well as a skull. It was a unique dinosaur they didn't know about. Television reporters came to the town and spoke to Javier about the bone he discovered.

This dinosaur will need a name, said one reporter. What do you think it should be called?

That's easy, said the man from the paleontology foundation. We'll call it the Javier Saurus.