Damian and Muffin find bones on the edge of a cliff while walking through the Montourier Forest.
Damien Bochet, a paleontology enthusiast from the south of France, was walking his dog Muffin in the Montourier forest when he made a surprising discovery. Boschette discovered bones protruding from the side of a cliff, and upon examination, realized he had unearthed a nearly complete skeleton of a 70-million-year-old titanosaur. CBS News.
The excavation, which took two years to complete with care to protect the site, revealed a 30-foot-long skeleton that was 70% complete. Bochet, along with members of the Society of Archeology and Paleontology and Culture, reported that they painstakingly removed the bones during several 10-day excavations. news outlet.
The rare find is now on display at the Cluzy Museum, where the public can come and “admire the dinosaurs,” Bochet said. Francis Fage, founder of the Cluzy Museum, credits Bochet’s keen eye for discovering the bones and believes the discovery is evidence of Bochet’s passion for paleontology.
For the past 28 years, researchers have discovered fossils of dinosaurs and other species in Courzy, a small village in southern France, he said. But his discoveries in the neighboring town of Montullier led researchers to a new area of bone.
Bochet and the association, which is made up mainly of volunteers, decided to keep the 2022 discovery secret for two years to protect the site and “avoid damage when extracting the largest pieces,” he said. he said in an email. CBS News.
Bochet and his researchers conducted several 10-day excavations over two years during which they discovered an almost completely intact dinosaur skeleton, which he said is unusual.
“This is why it is an interesting deposit from a scientific point of view,” he said. “From a museological point of view, it allows us to present to the public an animal whose anatomical position is almost complete, which is great.”
