Prehistoric Ecosystem Discovered Under The Italian Alps

Under the snowy slopes of the Italian Alps, there lies an ecosystem that predates the dinosaurs, revealed by melting snow before being stumbled upon by a hiker.

The discovery, made public last 13 November, includes well-preserved footprints of reptiles and amphibians that scientists say date back 280 million years to a geologic period known as the Permian period.

"Dinosaurs had not yet emerged at this time, but the animals responsible for the largest footprints here would still have been impressive, reaching up to 2-3 meters in length," said Cristiano Dal Sasso, a paleontologist at the Natural History Museum in Milan, where the finds are now on display.

The fossils were discovered in the mountains of northern Italy's Lombardy region after the snow and ice that once covered them melted away, scientists say, as a result of the ongoing climate crisis.

Claudia Steffensen was hiking along a trail in the Valtellina Orobie mountain range in the summer of 2023 when she stepped on a gray stone marked with unusual patterns.

"My husband was in front of me, looking straight ahead, while I was looking toward my feet. I put my foot on a rock, which struck me as odd as it seemed more like a slab of cement. I then noticed these strange circular designs with wavy lines. I took a closer look and realized they were footprints," Steffensen told the Guardian newspaper.

Intrigued, she snapped photos and shared them with her friend, Elio Della Ferrera, a nature photographer. Della Ferrera then contacted Dal Sasso, at the museum in Milan, to learn more about the discovery.

Dal Sasso enlisted the expertise of two specialists: Ausonio Ronchi, a professor of stratigraphy at the University of Pavia in Northern Italy, and Lorenzo Marchetti, a fossil expert from the Natural History Museum in Berlin.

Marchetti told NBC News that he was "amazed by the quality and quantity of the material," and said that while he had studied other Permian sites in the area, none seemed as "rich" as this one.

The Permian period immediately predated the dinosaurs.