Rocks Discovered in the "Hometown of Dinosaurs in China"
Revealed as 190-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Fossils
413 Footprints and Tail Marks Found on Eight Stones
It has been revealed that stepping stones used for decades in the yard of a home in China were actually dinosaur footprint fossils dating back 190 million years.
On December 4, the Hong Kong South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that research on dinosaur footprints discovered in our village in Zigong City, Sichuan Province, China, was completed on November 29.
Dinosaur fossil used as stepping stones by the Ding brothers in our village, Zigong City, Sichuan Province, China. Photo captured from Hong Kong South China Morning Post (SCMP)
Previously, in 1998, the Ding brothers, who live in our village, discovered rocks marked with "chicken footprint shapes" while quarrying and began using them as stepping stones in their yard. In 2017, as local interest in dinosaurs grew, the Ding brothers' daughter uploaded photos of these rocks online to gather information about their origin. The photos clearly showed sharp claw marks, round footprints, and linear traces. These photos piqued the interest of researchers at the dinosaur museum.
A month later, the research team confirmed that these stones were indeed dinosaur footprint fossils. With the Ding family's consent, the fossil specimens were transferred to the museum for detailed analysis. The team recently published their findings in the international journal Journal of Paleogeography. The eight stone slabs used as stepping stones by the Ding family contained 413 footprints, which were determined to date back to the Early Jurassic period, approximately 180 to 190 million years ago.
The research team explained that most of these footprints belonged to the dinosaur genera Grallator and Eubrontes. They estimated that these dinosaurs used a terrestrial running gait similar to that of modern birds and moved at speeds of 5.8 to 8.6 kilometers per hour.
Additionally, traces of tail dragging, which are rarely preserved, were also discovered. Xing Lida, Associate Professor of Geosciences at Peking University in China, explained, "These traces may have been left when the dinosaur was moving slowly while observing its surroundings or displaying aggressive behavior."
Zigong City, where our village is located, is also known as the "Hometown of Dinosaurs in China." In the 1970s and 1980s, more than 200 dinosaur and vertebrate fossils were discovered at the Dashanpu Middle Jurassic fossil site. Rare pterosaur and dinosaur skin fossils have also been unearthed, and a dinosaur museum has been established at the site.
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