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A researcher from the University of Southampton (UK) has found evidence that the treeless, rugged, grassland landscape of the Falkland Islands was home to a lush, diverse rainforest up to 30 million years ago.

A study by Dr. Zoë Thomas, leading an international team of scientists, reveals that the South Atlantic archipelago was once covered in cool, wet woodland—similar to the present day rainforests found in Tierra del Fuego, off the tip of South America.

Detailed findings of the research are newly published in the journal Antarctic Science.

The scientists conducted the research after clues to the whereabouts of buried remains of the ancient forest reached them via word of mouth in the tight-knit community of Port Stanley, the Falklands' capital. Chance conversations led them to find perfectly preserved prehistoric tree remains and pollen at a building site in early 2020.

"We were in the Falklands carrying out research for a different project when a fellow researcher, based on the island, mentioned they'd heard from a friend that something interesting had been dug up by a builder they knew," explains Dr. Thomas, an expert in physical geography at the University of Southampton.

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