A woman walking through the Parco delle Orobie Valtellinesi, in Lombardy, northern Italy, discovered by chance a prehistoric site that predates the emergence of dinosaurs, with traces of amphibians and reptiles, but also with marks of plants, seeds and even raindrops.
The discovery by hiker Claudia Steffensen, which was only possible due to the melting of glaciers in the Alps due to global warming, revealed traces of life dating back 280 million years, a period before the emergence of dinosaurs.
The first findings, recovered a few days ago 3 meters above sea level, were sent to the Natural History Museum in Milan, after being documented and analyzed by experts.
Scientists have recognized footprints of tetrapods (reptiles and amphibians) and invertebrates (insects and arthropods) belonging to the end of the Paleozoic Era.
“At that time, dinosaurs did not yet exist, but the largest footprints found suggest considerable dimensions, around two to three meters long,” explains paleontologist Cristiano Dal Sasso, who participated in the analysis. In addition, fossilized tracks of at least five different species of animals were found at the site, which will allow for precise paleoecological reconstructions.
“The footprints were made when sandstones and shales were still water-soaked sand and mud near the banks of rivers and lakes, which dried up according to the season,” reveals geologist Ausonio Ronchi, also involved in the research.
“The summer sun, drying those surfaces, hardened them to such an extent that the return of the water did not erase the footprints, on the contrary, it covered them with new clay, forming a protective layer,” he adds.
Ichnologist Lorenzo Marchetti comments that “the very fine grain of the sediments, now petrified, allowed the preservation of impressive details, such as the marks of the fingertips and the skin on the belly of some animals”.
“The shape and size of the remains indicate a quality of preservation and a remarkable paleobiodiversity, probably superior to that observed in other Lombard sites of the same geological age”, says Marchetti. (HANDLE)
