They are 25 volunteers. Since 2010, every summer, excavations resume in this site of inexhaustible paleontological treasures. Everyone has their role in this site installed in a quarry with clay soil. Gwendal Perrichon, a paleontology student in Lyon, cleans small fossils in tubs of water. “This allows us to identify and inventory them. »
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In the foreground, Gwendal Perrichon, student in paleontology in Lyon, in charge of cleaning the smallest fossils in water tanks.
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A young woman drawing a fossil.
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During this 13e country excavation, they discovered new elements of the sauropod, a herbivorous dinosaur measuring up to 30 meters long and having lived in the Upper Cretaceous (about 100 million years ago). “We unearthed the imprint of a sauropod’s left foot preserved in the clay”, explains Ronan Allain, paleontologist from the Paris Natural History Museum, at the origin of the exploitation of the site with Jean-François Tournepiche .
The sauropod in the spotlight
The researcher shows this gigantic imprint, engraved in the earth for several million years. “We had already found his claws and we could see that it was the same shape,” explains the paleontologist. The molding of the impression has already begun. It will then be covered with latex, taken out of the ground and studied.
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This volunteer discovered the sauropod coracoid bone (we see it behind him).
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Other parts of species have been discovered, such as turtles and crocodiles.
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Volunteers are busy searching the land in a relaxed atmosphere.
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Ronan Allain greets the volunteers, the atmosphere is friendly. Dreadlocks and tool in hand, a young man made the other big discovery, a sauropod bone: the coracoid, a piece of the dinosaur’s shoulder blade. Ronan Allain explains: “With these discoveries, we can reconstruct 50% of the body of a sauropod. We are still missing parts of the spine and neck.”
Complete visits and exhibition
The department allows public access to the site during free tours, all complete this year. The specialist laughs: “Some adults could watch us scratch for hours. They are passionate. It’s quite rare in France to be able to access a dinosaur excavation site, it also has an educational purpose. »
Ronan Allain and Jean-François Tournepiche wish to reconstitute a herd of ornithomimosaurs from the site for display. With sixty specimens and more than 3,500 pieces, it is the site’s flagship species. All the pieces are currently kept in the Angoulême museum, but they hope to set up a space dedicated to dinosaurs.
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