A dinosaurs unique in the world near Aix-en-Provence

Armed with a handbrush, a paleontologist meticulously inspects a mound of red clay at the foot of the Sainte-Victoire mountain, in the heart of Provence, in search of very specific fossils, some 75 million years old: dinosaurs’ eggs.

But here. However, no need for luck to find this site, confidential with the general public but world famous of scientists, who renamed it “Eggs (eggs) -en-provence”for its immediate proximity to «Aix» (Bouches-du-Rhône), probably houses the largest deposit in the world.

“This site has no equivalent. Consequently, just bend down to find leftover shells”explains Thierry Tortosa, paleontologist and curator of the national nature reserve of Sainte-Victoire: “We literally walk dinosaurs unique world near aix-en-provence on eggs!”.

A square meter – Dinosaurs unique world near aix-en-provence

About 1000 of them. Moreover, some up to 30 centimeters in diameter, have been discovered in recent years during excavations made on less than one hectare on the … In addition, 280 that will soon have the natural reserve, the area of ​​which must double by 2026, in particular to avoid looting.

“We believe we have an egg per square meter: we are therefore on thousands. In addition, even potentially millions of eggs”advance the scientist. Nevertheless, «Eggs» Do not seek competition with other sites according to him. Nevertheless, even if he smiles by evoking the 17,000 eggs of dinosaurs found in Heyuan in China in 1996, a “World record”.

“We do not get them out of the ground because in a nature reserve we should not change the landscape. Consequently, We are waiting for them to appear thanks to erosion. dinosaurs unique world near aix-en-provence Moreover, Then we would not have the capacity to store them all. We only take those who have a paleontological interest ”.

A secret place

But these eggs still contain secrets since they are so far all empty. hatched or not fertilized: “As long as we have not found an embryo in it, we will not know what type of dinosaur they come from. We just know that they are herbivores because of their round shape ”explains Thierry Tortosa. who describes this quest for “Saint Grail”.

Rare are the fertilized specimens found. as «Baby Yingliang»Oviraptorosaurus fossil at least 66 million years old, discovered around 2000 in Ganzhou (China).

But Thierry Tortosa wants to be optimistic: “You should never say. For nine years that I have been working here, we discovered things that we did not think of discovering ”. This is why. once a year, dinosaurs unique world near aix-en-provence experts come to search for 20 days a new plot of the reserve, in a secret place, to avoid any looting.

Hidden under a camouflage net. in a valley lost in the Garrigue, six people from the Bouches-du-Rhône department and the Aix-en-Provence Natural History Museum scrapes, using chisels and then tracing points, a few square meters from a clay-limestone soil.

Looting

“There is always a magical side, a return to childhood, when you discover an egg or a fossilized bone. Here. we will never have finished in our lifetime because every time we come, we know that we will find it ”said to AFP Séverine Berton, technician of paleontological excavations.

Their finds? A small femur, identified from the figure «38»and a tibia-sparse («52») thirty centimeters. Without doubt the remains of a rhabdodon or a titanosaur, large herbivores that populated this area. A thousand bones have dinosaurs unique world near aix-en-provence already been taken from the reserve.

Difficult to imagine that instead of olive trees. pines of Aleppo or the Sainte-Victoire itself, made worldwide famous by the paintings of Cézanne, the landscape towards the end of the Cretaceous (-89 to 66 million years) was more like the swamps of Camargue or the Delta of Okavango in Botswana with, in addition, palm trees, conifers and flower plants. In the middle, large flooding plains with silt-argile soils making the conditions of food, nesting … and egg conservation.

This area ranging from the current Spain to the Massif Central then formed an island which housed various. species of endemic dinosaurs. Herbivores but also carnivores like Variraptor. cousin of the Velociraptor popularized by Spielberg in Jurassic Park, or Arcovenator, whose only fossils were discovered not.

In 1846, the French paleontologist Philippe Matheron found the first dinosaur egg in the world in Rognac, dinosaurs unique world near aix-en-provence about thirty kilometers. Since then, many learned learned companies in the region to “Hunt” eggs, more or less framed. “Museums around the world wanted an egg from the Holy Victoire”recalls Mr. Tortosa.

Despite prohibitions, looting continues. In 1989, a fire revealed fossils in the open air: “Everyone came to pick up eggs”regrets the current conservative. In 1994. the site was classified as a geological national nature reserve, the highest level of protection with the prohibition of public access.

The department is now reflecting to enhance this heritage to develop “Paleontological tourism”. SElon him. “France is the only country in the world not to know how to communicate on dinosaurs: other countries make a museum around a tooth when it is here that we find the most diversity”.