Dinosaur Footprints in Junan

Dinosaur Footprints in Junan

The dinosaur park is located in Houzuoshan Village, Lingquan Town, Junan County. The footprint site stretches 500 meters from north to south and 100 meters from east to west. Judging by the shapes of the footprints, they were left by a variety of dinosaurs including sauropods, ornithopods, theropods, and ceratopsians. The footprints are clear, with even the textures on the toes visible in great detail.

In September 2003, Zhao Xijin, an expert from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences known as the “Dinosaur King” in China’s paleontological community, concluded after an on-site investigation that hundreds of millions of years ago, this area was home to a wide variety of dinosaurs, essentially a kingdom of dinosaurs. The footprints of herbivorous and carnivorous sauropods and theropods are deeply imprinted on the purple sandstone, presenting like frozen historical scenes before visitors’ eyes, evoking awe and amazement. A dinosaur park integrating science education, research, and tourism is currently under development here, designed to be both engaging and fully functional. These footprints are preserved in the Cretaceous sandy mudstone. Analysis shows that in terms of quantity, diversity, and scale, this site ranks first within Shandong Province and is also extremely rare on a national and international level, possessing significant scientific research and viewing value.