Georgenthal and Tambach-Dietharz

The UNESCO Global Geopark Thuringia Inselsberg - Drei Gleichen is planning, in consultation with the rural community of Georgenthal and the town of Tambach-Dietharz, to extend its most popular georoute, the dinosaur adventure trail.

In view of the large number of visitors in 2024 - almost 2,500 people thirsting for knowledge visited the excavations at Bromacker this summer alone - the decision was made to extend the hiking trail, which also leads to the Bromacker fossil site, and to add new themes.

The new project is being developed with the involvement of the General and Historical Geology working group at the University of Jena and supported by the Free State of Thuringia. To this end, localities, topics, sights and knowledge transfer methods of geoscientific interest are to be evaluated. The extension will present the new discoveries at Bromacker as well as new topics of local geology.

The field surveys were carried out in the first week of September with the participation of researchers and students.

Bromacker is an internationally recognised fossil site

Between 1978 and 2024, excavations at the Bromacker between Georgenthal and Tambach-Dietharz have so far uncovered 16 different species of prehistoric dinosaur and numerous invertebrate and plant fossils. They belong to the early fauna and flora of the mainland and colonised the tropics of the former supercontinent Pangaea around 300 million years ago. Many of the skeletal remains are completely preserved and, together with the tracks that have also been analysed, paint a picture of the early living communities on the mainland. The Bromacker is therefore a geological time window of international importance.

The dinosaur adventure trail between Georgenthal and Tambach-Dietharz, which opened in 2011, is a great way to look through this time window. It is a read-and-trace trail with 17 life-size dinosaur sculptures at eleven locations on the first section from Georgenthal to Bromacker. On the second section from Bromacker to Tambach-Dietharz, visitors can learn a lot about the work of palaeontologists and geologists at six other locations. With an estimated 15,000 visitors per year, the dinosaur adventure trail with a total length of approx. 9 km is one of the most popular family hiking trails in the region.

Contact:

Dr. Mauro Alivernini

Research assistant at the UNESCO Global Geopark Thuringia Inselsberg - Drei Gleichen

Management office of the geopark:

e.t.a. Sachverständigenbüro Reyer

Haarbergstraße 37

99097 Erfurt

Tel.: 0361 42 29 000

email: info@eta-reyer.de or mauro.alivernini@eta-reyer.de