Elio Della Ferrera, Arch. PaleoStelvioThousands of dinosaur footprints dating back 210 million years have been discovered in a national park in northern Italy.
The footprints – some measuring up to 40 cm (15 inches) in diameter – are lined up in parallel rows, and many show clear traces of toes and claws.
Dinosaurs are thought to have been prosauropods – herbivores with long necks, small heads and sharp claws.
“I never imagined making such a spectacular discovery in the region where I live,” said Milanese paleontologist Cristiano Dal Sasso.
Illustration by Fabio Manucci, Arch. PaleoStelvioLast September, a photographer spotted footprints stretching hundreds of meters on a vertical mountain wall in Stelvio National Park, northeast of Milan.
During the Triassic period, around 250 to 201 million years ago, the wall was a tidal plain, which later became part of the Alpine range.
“This place was full of dinosaurs; it’s a huge scientific treasure,” Mr Dal Sasso said.
The herds moved in harmony, he adds, “and there are also traces of more complex behaviors, such as groups of animals gathering in circles, perhaps for defense purposes.”
The prosauropods, which could be up to 10 m long, walked on two legs, but in some cases hand prints were found in front of the footprints, indicating that they had probably stopped and rested their forelimbs on the ground.
Elio Della Ferrera, Arch. PaleoStelvioElio Della Ferrera, the photographer who discovered the site, said he hoped the discovery “would spark reflection in each of us, highlighting how little we know about the places we live in: our home, our planet.”
According to a press release from the Italian Ministry of Culture, the area is isolated and inaccessible by trails, so drones and remote sensing technologies will be used instead.
Stelvio National Park is located in the Fraele Valley on the Italian border with Switzerland, near where the Winter Olympics will take place next year.
“It is as if history itself wanted to pay homage to the greatest global sporting event, combining past and present in a symbolic passing of the baton between nature and sport,” said the Italian Ministry of Culture.
