When the Antamina Mining Company needed a paved road to move mining equipment from Yanacancha to the Conococha crossroads (some 200km east of Huaraz), they simply built it themselves. During the excavation in 2009, they made a startling discovery: more than 100 footprints and the fossilized remains of at least 12 species of prehistoric animals that paleontologists have dated to the Early Cretaceous Period (about 120 million years ago).
Complete skeletons of large marine reptiles known as sauropterygians were found in addition to skeletal remains of other extinct species of crocodiles, flying reptiles called pterosaurs, fish-like reptiles called ichthyosaurs and…dinosaur footprints!
The site is between Kms 77 and 83 on the highway between San Marcos and Huallanca. In order to visit you'll need to hire a private car in Huallanca.
