Dinosaur Fossil Heritage of Mehsana: The Raikot Site

Mehsana district contains one of India's most significant dinosaur fossil sites at Rahioli village, where over 10,000 dinosaur fossils have been excavated from late Cretaceous deposits. The site, now developed as the National Fossil Wood Park at Mehsana, represents the Lameta Formation, where titanosaurid sauropod dinosaur eggs, bones, and trackways have been found in remarkable concentration. The dinosaurs that lived here approximately 66 million years ago were among the last to exist before the K-Pg mass extinction. Scientific teams from the Geological Survey of India and international institutions have worked at Rahioli since the 1980s. Local communities traditionally regarded the rounded fossil egg clusters as sacred stones (brahmaputra) associated with the god Brahma. The Vaishnodevi temple near the fossil site incorporated fossil eggs into its sacred precinct. The fossil park combines scientific education with cultural heritage interpretation.