Discover France and Explore the Fossils and Geodiversity La Plage aux Ptérosaures in Crayssac
- Wayne Munday
- 12 hours ago
- 5 min read
Sip back and discover France and explore the fossils and geodiversity of Pterosaur Beach (La Plage aux Ptérosaures) at Crayssac one of Europe’s most remarkable Jurassic Period fossil sites found in the limestone landscape of the Lot Valley in south west France. Preserved within fine laminated limestones deposited by a warm, shallow Late Jurassic sea, the site captures nearly 200 vertebrate trackways, including turtles, small dinosaurs, crocodilians, and the region’s celebrated pterosaurs. These exquisitely detailed footprints reveal not only gait, stride and speed but also complex behaviours including the first recorded pterosaur landing sequence highlighting the advanced manoeuvrability of these ancient flying reptiles. The trackways include both pterodactyloids and earlier non-pterodactyloid lineages, demonstrating that even ancestral pterosaurs were competent quadrupedal walkers. Today, the site is protected by a shelter built in 2011 allowing visitors to explore raised walkways safely while viewing the tracks in their original context. Surrounded by the scenic Lot Valley, historic Cahors, and renowned Malbec vineyards, Crayssac offers an unparalleled must-visit destination for palaeontological discovery, natural beauty and reflection of deep time over a glass of aromatic inky dark red wine.
Set in the undulating limestone landscape of the beautiful Lot Valley of Occitanie in south west France, Pterosaur Beach (La Plage aux Ptérosaures) in Crayssac is one of Europe’s most extraordinary Jurassic sites. Just a short drive from Cahors and easily reached from major routes through the Occitanie region, this protected fossil site offers visitors the chance to walk above preserved 150-million-year-old trackways while also enjoying nearby panoramic views of vineyards and limestone scenery. Its central location makes Crayssac a perfect base for a geologically themed holiday: spend a morning exploring the Réserve Naturelle Nationale Géologique du Lot, then follow scenic routes along the Lot River to visit nearby attractions such as the medieval village of Saint-Cirq-Lapopie, the prehistoric cave art at Pech Merle, and the dramatic cliffs and towpaths around Cahors. Outdoor lovers can pair fossil exploration with hiking trails on the Causses du Quercy or wine tasting in the acclaimed Cahors AOC vineyards. Celebrated for robust Malbec wines locally known as Côt produced in the winemaking areas of Mercuès, Luzech, and Puy-l’Évêque, the region is home to acclaimed estates including Château Lagrezette, Château de Mercuès, Château du Cèdre, Château de Gaudou, and Domaine Le Passelys. The combination of limestone rich soils and the naturally expressive Malbec grape yields powerfully rich, dark fruit flavour, red wine with a signature depth and elegance.
By contrast to the present scene 150 million years ago this region lay on the margin of the warm, shallow Western Tethyan Seaway. Here, shifting tides deposited fine limestones and lagoonal sediments and repeatedly exposed broad mudflats, and on these soft, silty surfaces a diverse cast of ancient vertebrates moved, rested, fed, and occasionally touched down between flights capturing and preserving their footprints, some only millimeters deep. The combination of fine-grained sediments, low-energy tidal environments and rapid burial created conditions ideal for capturing footprints and other surface features.
Pterosaur Beach is remarkable for its abundant, diverse, and well-preserved footprints, while actual bones are rare, as the fragile skeletons of pterosaurs rarely survived though soft tidal mudflats perfectly captured their tracks. The ichnosite preserves nearly 200 vertebrate trackways, ranging from crocodilians and small dinosaurs to turtles and most notably, pterosaurs revealing a complex Mesozoic ecosystem where animals once moved and interacted. These tracks are now protected by a sheltering structure built in 2011 to control humidity and shield the ichnosurface from erosion from the weather and temperature changes. Inside, softly lit raised walkways let visitors observe the tracks without harming them.
Each footprint, whether a deep individual footprint made by the hind foot forms a pes impression from a small pterosaur or the gentle sweep of a turtle trackway, is preserved in the fine laminated limestone that once formed the surface of a tidal mudflat. The rock layers capture every subtle detail: the direction an animal walked, whether it paused or changed pace, even the angle of its toes as it pushed off the mud.
Among the fossil site’s most celebrated tracks are those of pterosaurs that give the beach its nickname. The pterosaur trackways show that tiny to medium-sized pterodactyloids repeatedly visited or travelled across the mudflat and provides evidence that multiple species of flying reptiles shared this Late Jurassic shoreline.
These trackways display a diversity rarely found at a single locality and include five distinct morphotypes in Pteraichnus occitanis, Pteraichnus cadurcii, Pteraichnus communis, Pteraichnus dichnopollex and Pteraichnus pyrenaicus. These trackways have helped to provide insight into the movement pterosaurs in terms of their gait, speed, stride length and even the subtle differences between individual animals. These track imply that pterosaur were not hesitant or awkward walkers but rather they actively walked with purposeful movement.
Interestingly, Pterosaur Beach has evidence of much earlier pterosaur lineages known as non-pterodactyloids including groups such as rhamphorhynchids and anurognathids. Non-pterodactyloids are the ancestral group from which the pterodactyloids evolved. These older groups have often been depicted as poor walkers and confined to cliff faces or the forest canopy.
Trackways from the Pterosaur Beach have now been attributed to non-pterodactyloid pterosaurs, representing three new ichnotaxa likely related to the rhamphorhynchids. Their footprints show a steady gait, leaving clear, repeatable patterns meaning that these animals walked on all fours, leaving trackway impressions that show their front limbs touched the ground on their fingers (digitigrade), much like modern cats or dogs. Their hind feet varied, sometimes making contact with the whole sole (plantigrade) and other times only with the toes (digitigrade), revealing a flexible walking style. Therefore, even early pterosaurs are believed not to have been clumsy ground-dwellers but were also competent walkers.
The limestone at Pterosaur Beach preserves not only typical trackways but also rare behavioural snapshots, such as the first known pterosaur landing track. This exceptional sequence shows a pterosaur touching down on a mudflat with parallel hindfoot impressions, slight toe-drag marks revealing deceleration, and a brief pause before placing its forelimbs and shifting into normal quadrupedal walking. Capturing the precise moment between flight and ground movement, it offers a rare window into the advanced landing control and manoeuvrability of Jurassic pterosaurs.
Pterosaur Beach at Crayssac not only preserves a vivid record of Jurassic life but also invites visitors to engage deeply with the natural history of our planet. From the intricate trackways of pterosaurs to the interplay of ancient ecosystems captured in limestone, the site offers a unique window into behaviours and interactions that have long since disappeared. Combining scientific discovery with the immersive surrounding charm of the Lot Valley renowned for its dark, robust Malbec wines. Crayssac leaves a lasting impression, reminding us of the timeless connection between Earth’s past and our experience of it today.