This site is dedicated to vertebrate fossils.or 65-250 million years or age.

Collecting fossils usually results in a house full of sea urchins or ammonites. European Mesozoic vertebrates are sufficiently scarce to keep my collection manageable (but not everybody agrees that collecting dinosaurs saves space…).

Last Update   
30 March 2008

In France the Boulonnais (around Boulogne-sur-Mer, Jurassic), the Seine estuary (Cap de la Heve and Trouville, upper Jurassic), Nancy environs (Lorraine, Triassic), the west coast (ile de Re and ile d'Oleron, Jurassic), the South-West (foothills of the Pyrenees and Languedoc, Upper Cretaceous) and the Provence (Aix-en-Provence and environs, Var, upper Cretaceous) are prime sites. More detailed information can be found in the scientific literature and from amateur websites. The coast is generally accessible and collecting is permitted, most quarries require  an "authorisation". In certain parts of France it is generally forbidden to collect fossils (e.g., Haute Provence). The map below provides a rough but incomplete picture.

One of the best spots to find Mesozoic vertebrates in Europe is across the Channel in the UK, the Isle of Wight (early Cretaceous/Purbeckian) and the South coast of England (eg Lyme Regis, early Jurassic). But in recent years important find have been made in Spain, Italy and Germany as well. So plenty of opportunities. And the best sites are those yet to be discovered….


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