South Africa is widely recognized for its rich fossil record, preserving evidence of ancient life, including dinosaurs. However, around 182 million years ago, massive lava eruptions spread across much of the region, covering the inland Karoo Basin where dinosaurs once thrived.
Following this event, the fossil record of dinosaurs in the area becomes notably sparse throughout the Jurassic Period (which lasted from 201 million to 145 million years ago).
New discoveries reopen missing record
Recent findings are beginning to fill this long-standing gap, showing that dinosaurs continued to inhabit southern Africa well after these volcanic events.
In 2025, researchers reported dinosaur tracks dating to about 140 million years ago along a remote section of coastline in South Africa’s Western Cape province. These tracks marked the first evidence of dinosaurs in the region from the Cretaceous period (145 million to 66 million years ago).
Now, we’ve found more.
Fieldwork uncovers unexpected track site
Our work as a team of ichnologists (studying fossil tracks and traces) often takes us to the Knysna area of the Western Cape coast, where we investigate tracks in coastal aeolianites (cemented sand dunes) in the age range of 50,000 to 400,000 years old.
During one of these visits, early in 2025, we decided to visit a small patch of rock that formed during the early Cretaceous Period. It’s the only place in the vicinity where rock of this age is exposed, and much of it is underwater at high tide. We thought we might be lucky enough to find a theropod (dinosaur) tooth like the one discovered in those rocks by a 13-year-old boy in 2017.
We were pleasantly surprised when, instead, Linda Helm, a member of our party, told us in a state of excitement that she had found dinosaur tracks. Further examination of the deposits revealed more than two dozen probable tracks.
