For around fifteen years since it has been excavated by scientists for three weeks each summer, the Angeac site, in Charente, is now well known to paleontologists. They have already discovered more than 100,000 fossils of all kinds, extremely well preserved, including femurs of turiasaur (a large sauropod), and 70 skeletons of ornithomimosaurus, dinosaurs that lived there 140 million years ago. .
The new discovery made last summer during the excavation campaign led by the paleontologist from the National Museum of Natural History in Paris Ronan Allain could bring Angeac into the circle of sites of global interest. Because it was an articulated semi-skeleton that was found, probably belonging to a new species of dinosaur, close to camarasaurs, of which there are few traces in Europe. While the analysis of the first fossils discovered on site has started at the museum, 20 Minutes asked Ronan Allain about this discovery.
Tell us how the discovery of this new dinosaur happened on the Angeac site last July?
We had been waiting for two years to be able to access new plots. We were very excited because we knew that we were going to come across fossils, and probably sauropods, since we have already found them in Angeac, including gigantic turiasaur femurs in 2010 and 2019. I told myself that the we would also find theropod or stegosaurus, in short, animals that we already knew. But we never thought we would find a new species of dinosaur.
When the backhoe loader began to remove the gravel, very quickly we saw small fragments of bone appear on the surface, then we came across large bones, notably the end of a femur. Continuing, we saw that the bones were very localized, which was new because usually, in Angeac, they are scattered. And after a week, we understood that it was an articulated semi-skeleton, with a piece of the pelvis, the ribs, pieces of the skull, four dorsal vertebrae… and teeth. Several teeth – we have more than forty now. They were the ones who told us that it had nothing to do with the turiasaur that we know well on this site, but that it was a dinosaur close to the camarasaurus.
Why teeth?
Because they are very typical, we know them well in other deposits in the world, in particular in the United States where many fossils of camarasaurus. A species that lived alongside diplodocus, brachiosaurus, allosaurs…
And what allows us to say that it could be a new species?
It is very close to the camarasaurusbut we quickly pointed out many anatomical differences. My work will consist of definitively validating them, by accessing finer anatomical structures. Only then can we make it a new species, in which case it will be entitled to its name. We will be set in July I think. But perhaps even more interesting is that we are in the Cretaceous (140 million years old), while the other members of this family are known to have lived in the Late Jurassic (160 million years ago) . However, history has taught us that at the end of the Jurassic, there was a break, with changes in dinosaur faunas… Angeac therefore tells us the opposite.
How did you manage to draw these conclusions so quickly?
It’s thanks to the deposit, which is extraordinary. These numerous bones are also preserved in easily searchable clay, which makes it possible to go much faster than at other sites.
-Had we already found fossils of camarasaurs, or close to this species, in this region?
We knew that these animals were present at the end of the Jurassic in Europe, thanks to the discovery of a few bones. The difference is that we are no longer in the Jurassic, but in the Cretaceous, which makes them the youngest camarasaurs ever discovered, and above all we have this time around fifty bones, and it is not over. We really have to measure its exceptional nature, because we often see announcements of the discovery of new dinosaurs, but when we scratch a little, we realize that it is a quarter of a bone or a tooth… This is really not the case.
Can the skeleton be reconstructed and exhibited?
Depending on what we find during the next excavations, we will see if we can reconstruct the skeleton in three dimensions. But it’s the stated goal of the whole team, and I think we should be able to achieve it. We already have four connected dorsal vertebrae which are magnificent, we have almost the entire pelvis, the entire lower jaw with all the teeth preserved. We have a lot of elements that come from different places on the skeleton. And that tells us that the rest is probably there. For now, it would be a huge surprise – unpleasant – not to find the rest, even if part of it was certainly carried away by the Charente.
Afterwards, an exhibition would be desirable, but where? We need a museum that can accommodate a twenty-five meter long sauropod skeleton… For the moment, all the bones found in Angeac are grouped together in the Angoulême museum, and there is no inclination anywhere, to accommodate such a reconstitution.
What can we say about this Angeac site? What was it like 140 million years ago?
It was a swampy area. You have to imagine a kind of large pond with animals living there, such as crocodiles, turtles, frogs… It is also a crossing point for many dinosaurs who come to drink there, notably ornithomimosaurs (called ostrich dinosaurs). , turiasaurs, stegosaurs, ankylosaurs…
Some are represented by a few teeth, others by skeletons. Because dinosaurs also died there. They then sink into the mud and find themselves covered, which encourages their fossilization. In Angeac, it’s simply incredible how much has fossilized, whereas three kilometers further on, you find nothing at all.
