Dinosaur Quarry of Altamura
The Dinosaur Quarry of Altamura, also known as cava dei dinosauri or cava Pontrelli, is an area of scientific interest located in the countryside of the city of Altamura, Italy, where about 4000 footprints of dinosaurs have been found. It was originally an abandoned quarry located in an area named Pontrelli located on "Via Santeramo", where a kind of carbonate rock known as calcare di Altamura used to be extracted. It originally belonged to the De Lucia family and, after a few changes of ownership, in 2016 it was expropriated. Now it belongs to the Municipality of Altamura due to the remarkable scientific relevance of the discovery.
History of the discovery
The dinosaur footprints were accidentally discovered on May 10, 1999, by two marine geologists of the University of Ancona, Michele Claps and Massimo Sarti, while they were carrying out research on behalf of the company Tamoil. Shortly thereafter, Italian paleontologist and ichnologist Umberto Nicosia searched the area, confirming the authenticity of the discovery and in 1999 he introduced, on the basis of the surveys inside the quarry and together with other collaborators, a new ichnospecies which was given the name of Apulosauripus federicianus referred at an ankylosaurid long 5–6 meters''.''Characteristics
The climate of the period the footprints date back to was very different from today. The climate was somehow similar to today's Bahamas and the water levels were probably shallow. According to the most recent theories, the fossilization of the footprints took place thanks to the periodic rise and fall of the sea level, which allowed the mud to be trampled by various species of dinosaurs. The footprints were then hardened by the phenomenon of diagenesis and, with the return of the water, they were covered with carbonate rocks. The latter then covered the holes of the footprints, thus fossilizing them.The discovery of the footprints shed light on some essential paleographic questions about the climate and conditions of the territory at that time. Today's Apulia region was "a promontory of the African continent" and its "palaeographic domain" is known as the "Apulian carbonate platform"; because of the presence of footprints of dinosaurs of various species in this region, the area could never be, as previously assumed, almost totally covered with water.