A new species of dinosaur comes out of the ground in France

In Angeac-Charente, Ronan Allain “lives the dream of all paleontologists”.afp

An omoplate of more than a meter next to an equally colossal and still partially buried bone string … Welcome to one of the largest dinosaurs fossil deposits in the world, in Charente in the west of France.

Capucine KOESTEL, Angeac-Charente, France / afp

The first bones of a new species of these prehistoric giants were discovered last year on the Angeac-Charente site, between Angoulême and Cognac. A dozen additional fossils updated in July, during this 16th excavation campaign, gradually allowed this skeleton to be 140 million years old.

Yellowish or dark brown according to their depth, these vestiges are exhumed by enthusiasts and scientists on knees in clay, under a large white tent protecting them from the sun and the rain.

An additional dozen fossils gradually complete the 140 million year old skeleton.Image: AFP

This new 20-meter long dinosaur, a camarasaurus, a sort of cousin of the diplodocus, was “unknown in Western Europe” until last year, explains Jean-François Tournepiche, paleontologist and former curator of the museum of Angoulême.

Herbivore of 30 tonnes

This “enormous scientific discovery”, according to the director of excavations Ronan Allain, makes it possible to question the movement of fauna, since this 30 -ton herbivore was previously only known in North America and at an older period.

This deposit, “the most excavated in the world”, always keeps “a surprise pocket effect”, smiles this paleontologist at the Museum of Natural History in Paris. This year, two dinosaur femurs appeared as soon as the tent is installed in an unexpected location.

It was already the discovery in 2010 of a 2.40-meter femur of a gigantic Turiasaurus, also of the family of the Sauropods, which gave birth to the reputation of Angeac-Charente. Jewel of the paleontological period of the lower Cretaceous, the site has already delivered more than 10,000 pieces sufficiently attractive to have “returned in inventory” on the 1000 square meters of excavated quarries.

The first bones were discovered last year.Image: AFP

He witnesses a frozen ecosystem at “a period of which we know practically nothing,” says Jean-François Tournepiche. Nearly 45 species of vertebrates, crocodiles, turtles, ornithominosaurs (known as dinosaur-atstructure) … but also ferns and tropical plants cohabited in this swamp 140 million years ago.

The Camarasaurus would have died naturally on the spot. Once decomposed, its bones were slightly moved by Charente, the river which gave its name to the department and to the municipality, some 100,000 years ago.

These very well preserved bones remain extremely fragile. Volunteers and scientists must surround them with cellophane and newspaper, plug the cavities with clay and lock them in armed plaster shells before extracting them. Some blocks can be around 2 tonnes.

Exhibition in 2026

The three weeks of excavations thus feed more than a year of work in the laboratory, to “prepare the bones”, that is to say cleaning them, consolidating them and sometimes reconstituting them before being able to study them. This is explained, toothbrush and bone in hand, Dominique Augier, fossil trainer.

Faced with him, around thirty visitors ended the site visit. In the first row, Noé Migné, 11, is imprisoned by “the enormous size of the Sauropod bones”. He was part, with his mother and sister, of the lucky ones who were able to access the site. The two visits per day were “armored” as soon as reservations were opened in June, explains Jean-François Tournepiche, for whom “the extraordinary enthusiasm of the public is magic”.

Researchers work in the extraction of fossilized bones.Image: AFP

The fossils of the site will eventually integrate the collections of the Angoulême Museum and some will leave their native Southwest for an exhibition at the Museum of Natural History in Paris in June 2026.

In Angeac-Charente, Ronan Allain “lives the dream of all paleontologists”. For this rare French specialist in dinosaurs, the Grail would be to find a carnivorous dinosaur bone, which is lacking at the moment.

Before closing the excavations, the team of around forty people has already come across a new bone, probably of the same dinosaur, but, for lack of time to extract it properly, they had to cover it. He will wait next year. Because here, scientists believe that there are still at least ten years of excavation to lead. And many other secrets to reveal. (AFP)

At the origin of the iconic and controversial series of nude photos of Melania Trump, the Franco-Swiss artist Alexandre de Basseville launches an innovative project, unveiled at watson exclusively.

We left them a few months ago, by a beautiful and cold day of March, in a restaurant a hair lost in the canton of Vaud. Since then, Alée de Basseville and his wife, the architect and former model Egla Harxhi, have not been unemployed.