Prehistoric

A documentary uncovers that, 13,000 years ago, the area now known as Chicago – the city credited with inventing the skyscraper – was inhabited by massive prehistoric beasts. Their fossilised remains are still remarkably visible today, scattered across various city parks for visitors.

The programme is a documentary episode titled Chicago. It presents the city that gave rise to the skyscraper as the backdrop for a story that reaches far beyond its modern skyline. In the film, viewers are taken back roughly 13,000 years to a time when the area now occupied by Chicago was home to enormous prehistoric animals. The documentary points out that the remains of these giant beasts are still turning up in the city’s public parks, offering tangible proof of a world that existed long before any steel structures were imagined. By juxtaposing the ancient megafauna with the metropolis that later pioneered high‑rise construction, the episode highlights the striking contrast between Chicago’s architectural legacy and its deep‑time natural history. It shows how the very ground beneath today’s streets and towers still holds the bones of creatures that once roamed the region. The film also notes that the continued discovery of these fossils in local parks serves as a reminder that the city’s present‑day landscape is built upon layers of forgotten life, linking the modern urban environment to a distant, animal‑filled past.