Italian paleontologists have uncovered thousands of dinosaur footprints on a nearly vertical rock face more than 2,000 meters above sea level in Italy’s Stelvio National Park, marking one of the world’s richest fossil track sites from the Triassic period.

The footprints, some measuring up to 40 centimeters wide and bearing clear claw marks, stretch for approximately five kilometers along the high-altitude glacial valley of Valle di Fraele near Bormio, a town in the Lombardy region that will host events during the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Speaking at a press conference held at the Lombardy regional administration, Cristiano Dal Sasso, a paleontologist at the Milan Natural History Museum, said the site is among the largest and oldest track fields in Italy. “In my 35-year career, this is one of the most impressive discoveries I have encountered,” he noted.

Experts believe the tracks were left more than 200 million years ago, when the area was a warm coastal lagoon. The footprints are thought to belong mainly to herds of long-necked herbivorous dinosaurs, likely Plateosaurus, which walked across muddy shorelines near shallow waters.

Fabio Massimo Petti, an ichnology specialist from the MUSE Museum in Trento, explained that the tracks formed when sediments were still soft across vast tidal flats surrounding the ancient Tethys Ocean. Over time, the mud hardened into rock, preserving exceptional anatomical details such as toes and claw impressions.

Scientists also pointed out that tectonic movements caused by the northward shift of the African plate led to the closure of the Tethys Ocean and the uplift of the Alps. As a result, fossilized footprints that were originally horizontal are now exposed on steep, almost vertical mountain slopes.

According to officials, the site was first noticed in September by a nature photographer who was photographing deer and bearded vultures in the area.

Giovanni Malagò, President of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Organizing Committee, said the discovery was an unexpected gift from the natural sciences to the upcoming Winter Games, linking the event to a deep and ancient past.

Due to the area’s inaccessibility by hiking trails, researchers plan to rely on drones and remote sensing technologies to conduct further scientific studies.(ILKHA)