In Angeac, the Charente dinosaurs continue to emerge from the ground

This is already the sixteenth excavation season, but the Angeac site in Charente, sometimes referred to as a paleontological cornucopia, is far from exhausted. In early July, while the team from the Paléocharente association was digging the foundations of a vast tent intended to protect some thirty volunteer excavators from the weather and the sun, the first blows of the pickaxe revealed several large dinosaur bones.

"These are two pieces of femur, right and left, knee side, from a sauropod of the genus Camarasaurus," says paleontologist Ronan Allain (National Museum of Natural History), scientific head of the excavations, where students, experienced researchers and enlightened amateurs are busy. Still partially buried in clay, these bones, almost 1 meter long, are regularly soaked in a resin intended to consolidate them, before they are completely extracted to be studied in the laboratory.

You have 86.33% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.