Pehuen Có footprints at the Brussels Science Museum

The town of Pehuen-Có, in the Coronel Rosales region, contains one of the most important archaeological treasures on the planet.

They are the footprints of animals that inhabited the place 12 thousand years ago, in the period called the late Pleistocene era, and they can be seen along 3 kilometers of the beach.

Despite their enormous value, they generally make the news when habitual unscrupulous people drive them or mistreat them in some way.

Not many residents of the region benefit from this unique heritage.

Now, an exhibition at the Royal Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels, an institution established in 1846, illustrates the importance of these brands.

Both footprints and 3D animal recreations are part of the Giants Gallery dedicated to the giant vertebrates that lived in the Cenozoic Era. After calling from Brussels, the Charles Darwin Museum in Punta Alta sent photos and 3D models of the site.

Giants is presented as “a journey back in time to discover 11 giant animals that lived after the dinosaurs, from the Paleogene to the Quaternary, with six life-sized 3D representations and five skeletons.”

The collected silhouettes are designed with a certain artistic and architectural freedom. Pehuen Có’s footprints next to the animal have been recreated in 3D and covered in sand, so that visitors can dig them in with a paintbrush and thus generate active engagement.

The scientific world’s interest in this heritage is increasing day after day, as new studies are conducted, more materials become available and its publication expands.

The interest of the Brussels Museum demonstrates the importance and value of the site and is another incentive for it to receive the attention it deserves.