near complete dino fossil found near Aix-en-Provence, France

Mountainsandh · 05-09-2012 9:59pm #1

Hi all, I come to lurk on here at times, although I don't know much about fossils myself, but interested.
You may have known about this one, or not, as it seems they have kept it pretty quiet since 2002 to avoid pillaging of the site.
It's the discovery of some 12 m long dinosaur skeleton in the South of France. In the video they are saying they're excited that practically the entire skeleton is there, it's like a giant jigsaw, but they have been able to establish so far that it had been the victim of carnivors. They say that the skull is intact which is unusual since it's an "open" skull, full of windows (that's the lady in museum talking) and therefore very fragile.
They also say that the swing of its tail was as fast as the speed of sound ! :eek:

http://videos.tf1.fr/jt-20h/un-gigantesque-squelette-de-dinosaure-mis-au-jour-pres-d-aix-en-7498428.html

They do mention the full name but it's all above my head tbh, if you're unsure I'll have another listen, they call it "dinosaure tzigane" and make reference to Roumania where another has been found ?

Galvasean · 05-09-2012 10:39pm

Curse my lack of French fluency!

Mountainsandh · 05-09-2012 10:49pm

I've no credit I'm French

Ziphius · 06-09-2012 2:10pm

Nice. I think it's the sauropod Atsinganosaurus -- the 'Gypsy Dinosaur'.

Here's an English press release

Six tonnes seems very slight for a sauropod. Europe during the Cretaceous period consisted mostly of Islands. Could this be a case of island dwarfism?

Galvasean · 06-09-2012 4:33pm

The article alludes to the new dinosaur (Atsinganosaurus velauciensis) being related to Magyarosaurus, which was only half the size. So yes, insular dwarfism seems quite likely in my opinion..

Mountainsandh · 06-09-2012 7:52pm

I was wrong about the skull, they are saying the main thing missing is the skull, duh.

Found another article with other titbits of information :

Sur le même site, de nombreux autres fossiles ont été découverts, tous datant
de la période du Crétacé supérieur, il y a 75 millions d'années, juste avant
l'extinction des dinosaures. Parmi lesquels un crâne de crocodile, des carapaces et plastrons de tortues, ainsi que des ossements d'autres dinosaures
(Ankylosaure, Rhabdodon, etc.).

"Ces carcasses enchevêtrées les unes aux autres ont été transportées à faible courant, d'où leur état de conservation assez exceptionnel", précise Mme Garcia.

on the same site, numerous other fossils have been found, all dating from the superior Cretaceous, 75 M years ago, just before the extinction of dinosaurs. Among them a crocodile skull, turtle shells and "shells-that-go-at-the-front-on-their-chest-thingummies" (here's an English word I never came across before :P ), and various bones of other dinos....
These intermingled carcasses have been carried/transported by a very weak current, and so have been rather exceptionnally well preserved.

Mountainsandh · 06-09-2012 8:06pm

Ziphius wrote: »

Nice. I think it's the sauropod Atsinganosaurus -- the 'Gypsy Dinosaur'.

Here's an English press release

Six tonnes seems very slight for a sauropod. Europe during the Cretaceous period consisted mostly of Islands. Could this be a case of island dwarfism?

According to this article you could be right http://www.museum-aix-en-provence.org/histoire_paleontologie.htm . They say that Sainte Victoire, a mountain where most of the eggs and fossils are found in the area, was encircled by 2 seas.
Although they also in the same breath talk about a "gutter style" depression where the eggs sank and fossilised. The folds in that spot at the time distorted with geological evolution, and built up into the present mountain. Some of the folds now exposed are said to be practically all broken eggs material (with some intact), in a red sandstone (not sure about the sandstone, sediment type of stone ?).

edit : found a map of superior Cretaceous ! http://lavignejp.free.fr/blcp/blcp-cretasup-02.htm

I guess Isthme Durancien is the spot we're talking about here, that's where Ste Victoire is now located.

near complete dino fossil found near Aix-en-Provence, France

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