Namhae Gain-ri Fossil Site

On the flat shoreline rocks of Gain-ri, on Changseondo island in Namhae, the footprints of dinosaurs, pterosaurs, birds and lizards that crossed a Cretaceous mudflat about 100 million years ago are still clearly visible. More than 1,500 dinosaur footprints have been recorded here, and one trackway of 57 prints left by a single meat-eating dinosaur runs for up to 52 metres. This is an open-air fossil site where you walk across the exposed rocks at low tide and spot the prints one by one.

From a villager's tip-off to a Natural Monument

The site first came to light when a local resident reported strange marks in the rock. In 1997 Professor Seo Seung-jo of Jinju National University of Education presented it to the scientific community. It became a South Gyeongsang provincial monument in 2005 and was upgraded to a national Natural Monument on 29 December 2008.

The prints are preserved in the Haman Formation of the Gyeongsang Supergroup. This was once a shallow shoreline of alternating mud and sand: the animals' tracks dried and hardened, were buried by the next layer of sediment, and survived to this day. In places, magma later pushed between the layers and slightly baked the rock.

What to see

• Theropod trackway: the long line of prints left by a two-legged meat-eater is the site's signature sight. Prints of two kinds of carnivorous dinosaur, a large one and a medium-sized one, appear here.
• Herbivore prints: large, rounded prints of long-necked sauropods (Brontopodus) and tracks of two-legged ornithopods lie alongside the carnivore prints.
• A tiny footprint: a theropod print just 1.1 cm long (Minisauripus) was found here and is counted among the smallest carnivorous dinosaur footprints in the world.
• Birds and lizards: more than three kinds of bird track, including those of a web-footed bird (Ignotornis yangi), and lizard tracks (Neosauroides koreaensis), the first ever identified in Cretaceous rock.
• Patterns in the rock: along the south-eastern shore you can see petrified wood and plant fossils, mud cracks from drying mud and ripple marks left by water.

Dinosaur skin impressions and bone fossils have also turned up, so few places show the life of a Cretaceous shoreline in such variety.

Good to know

The fossil the on-site information board highlights above all is a pterosaur footprint. It looks so much like a human footprint that some people have mistaken it for evidence that humans and dinosaurs lived together. Footprints show up best when the light comes in at a low angle: visit in the morning or late afternoon rather than at midday, and the hollows stand out clearly in shadow.

Tripto tips

• Getting there: follow provincial road 1024, park at the car park at 767-3 Heungseon-ro, Changseon-myeon, then walk about 240 m along the wooden boardwalk right beside Sesimsa temple to the fossil beds. Public transport is impractical, so this is a stop for a road trip.
• Check the tide: the prints are on tidal rocks and disappear under water at high tide. Check a local tide table before you go and aim for low tide.
• Time needed: allow 40 minutes to 1 hour for the boardwalk and a footprint hunt.
• Take care: wet rock and seaweed are slippery, so wear shoes with a firm grip. This is a Natural Monument, so never scratch or remove any fossil.
• Combine with: cross the Changseon–Samcheonpo Bridge to Sacheon, or head south to the German Village in Namhae. For more dinosaur tracks, add the Deokmyeong-ri coast in Goseong and the Gajin-ri fossil site in Jinju.