| Dinosaur footprints
The uniqueness of Altamura is not only attested by the famous bread and the important human skeleton but also by thousands of dinosaur foot prints that have been discovered in 1999 outside the city. In a quarry, in Via Santeramo, over 25.000 foot prints of at least 5 different species of dinosaurs have been preserved in the ‘Altamuran’ mud. The stratigraphic layer probably dates back to the Cretaceous period, more precisely the santonian period (83,5 - 85,8 million years ago). It is the most important and best conserved discovery in Italy and in Europe.
The climate in Apulia, during that time period, was very different from today’s one: a tropical climate, much warmer. This permitted the conservation of the prints; they were dried by the sun before they were covered by other calcareous layers. One can imagine these animals moving around on a sort of muddy plain, a clear carbonate mud in which they left their imprints, quite deep even. In some foot prints it is possible to see the holes where mud was taken attached to the foot of the dinosaur. In some cases one can see the articulation of the foot or the folds of the skin. The footprints that have been studied so far have been ascribed to the ornithischian dinosaurs, probably ornithopods (with three toes). Marginocephalia and thyreophora are not escluded. All of these dinosaurs are herbivores. It is assumed that these dinosaurs were smaller than their contemporaries. The area in which they lived was geographically isolated. Therefore there was less room and need for them to evolve as enormous as other dinosaurs.
The prints are important because they can give information about different aspects: the skeletal motor apparatus, posture, the walk, behavior, speed and environmental preferences of dinosaurs. The site also offers a contribution to paleo-environmental and paleo-geographic reconstructions. In fact it changed the previously assumption of a partially submerged region that was thought to be the Murgia millions of years ago. Dinosaurs need a large and stable environment in order to find enough food.
The quarry is a candidate for UNESCO's world heritage list. |