“The quality of preservation is incredible”: 79 theropod dinosaur footprints found on a new excavation site in Lozère

Le chantier de fouille a été plus que positif pour toute l’équipe scientifique. Midi Libre – Lucas Manouvrier

A team of diggers worked hard for a week to find traces of these specimens from 200 million years ago. The site was reburied on Tuesday, August 6, 2024, and paleontologists are now working on computers using 3D digital modeling of the site.

Around fifteen scientists – paleontologists and students – searched for traces of dinosaurs on a new footprint site discovered in Saint-Laurent-de-Trèves in May 2023 by a hiker. The work lasted six days, four of which were reserved for the excavation of the ground, one for carrying out scientific surveys and the last for reburying the site.

This Wednesday, August 7, 2024, the day after the end of the research, Jean-David Moreau, project leader and president of the Association of Paleontology of the Languedoc Highlands (APHPL), does not hide his satisfaction. “We have achieved the initial objective, the site is extremely positive, with a studied surface area of ​​150 m2."

Three different morphologies

In total, no fewer than 79 tridactyl (three-toed) prints were observed on the different rock strata, the largest number in the sector. “This site is exceptional and the quality of preservation is incredible, he continues. We have a fineness of grain that allows us to detect the pads and the claws." But not only that. Also to note three different morphologies, which suggest that three Theropods of different species walked the Lozère soil 200 million years ago, during the Jurassic.

Six footprint tracks found

While finding a new footprint was a source of joy for those who searched for several days under a blazing sun, it was above all the tracks that amazed the paleontologists. “We have six of them, one of which is eight meters long. They will allow us to determine the size and speed of movement of the dinosaurs”, explains Jean-David Moreau, aware that this excavation could have led to nothing.

This is not the case and, before reburying this classified and protected site in the heart of the Cévennes National Park, samples were collected on Monday, August 6 to analyze this treasure remotely. Also, a photogrammetry specialist intervened to digitally model this footprint site in 3D. And we won't have to wait 200 million years for paleontologists to get back to their research work remotely. "The computers are already running…", smiles Jean-David Moreau.