Walker's find leads to discovery of 79 dinosaur footprints in south France

A man on a hunt for mushrooms in the south of France instead found a dinosaur footprint, which has subsequently led to the discovery of 78 more. 

The find, made by Marc Lemonnier, has been described as “extremely rare” and “momentous for palaeontologists”. 

Upon discovering the footprint while walking in Lozère last year, Mr Lemonnier immediately called Jean-David Moreau, a palaeontologist and president of the Association paléontologique des hauts plateaux du Languedoc (APHPL). 

“I asked him to send me a photo of the footprint. There was no ambiguity whatsoever: It was a pronounced and clear dinosaur footprint,” Dr Moreau told The Connexion. 

“He was quite fortunate because he was walking in the evening and the evening light made it a lot easier to see.” 

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Saint-Laurent-de-Trèves palaeontology 

Mr Lemonnier is curious about palaeontology and lives in Saint-Laurent-de-Trèves, a village where the first discovery of dinosaur footprints in the area took place, back in the 1930s. As such, he quickly recognised the footprint. 

He had also written an article about Dr Moreau and his team for an excavation that took place a few years earlier, so knew exactly who to call. 

The discovery of one footprint is not massively rare in the area, but a subsequent excavation this summer soon revealed many more.

“There is always an element of uncertainty with excavations and we were very lucky to find lots more footprints and differently shaped ones, which will allow us to develop more knowledge on what kind of dinosaurs left these traces.”

The footprints were left by the dinosaurs in the mud of a marsh, then submerged and unsubmerged in water, with another layer of mud covering them very quickly.

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It is now known that the footprints belong to carnivorous, bipedal (two-legged) and tridactyl (three-toed) dinosaurs from around 200 million years ago. These were theropods from the Lower Jurassic era, estimated to have been 4m tall. 

This has been established by comparing the footprints with others from around the world. Only one Lower Jurassic theropod fossil has ever been found in France, in Normandy, but others have been found elsewhere in Europe. 

Excavation project

The APHPL’s excavation consisted of four days of digging and exploring, one day of analysis and data collection and one day of sedimentological and stratigraphic analysis, before everything was reburied to leave the site as it was before. 

All the findings were digitised to create a 3D version of the site. Around 15 volunteers worked on the excavation, including students.. 

“It was a great opportunity for students to work in the field, and for most of them it was their first excavation site,” said Dr Moreau.

The area, in the Bassin des Causses, is known for being rich in dinosaur tracks and fossils, with around 60 known sites. 

“Sometimes, one or two isolated footprints are found but a find on such a large scale with such a concentration of footprints is very rare,” said Dr Moreau.

“The discovery of this site has also given us fresh footprints, which have not been eroded. This allows us to see much more detail, such as fingers, claws and pads.

“We also found successive footprints, which can allow us to work out if these animals moved in groups or if they were isolated, how fast they moved, how big they were. There is a lot of important information for palaeontologists.” 

No further excavations will take place on the site, but more are planned in the Bassin des Causses, a huge area which extends from Mende in the north to Montpellier in the south.