Your journey begins in the ancient papal city of Avignon, where you’ll be warmly welcomed by your local guide, Vincent Reboul, upon arrival at the Avignon TGV station from Paris in the late morning—or directly from your hotel if you’ve chosen to spend the night soaking in the history of this storied city.

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From Avignon, you’ll travel by private van toward the heart of southern France, winding through sunlit landscapes on a scenic two-hour drive to Cruzy. Along the way, we pause at the legendary Pont du Gard, an awe-inspiring Roman aqueduct that has stood for nearly 2,000 years. Here, you’ll enjoy lunch, take a refreshing swim, and marvel at one of the greatest engineering achievements of the Roman world—a monumental structure that once carried water across 56 kilometers between Nîmes and Uzès.

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By mid-afternoon, you’ll arrive at your base camp: the charming Castigneau Village Hotel, just 15 minutes from the excavation sites and perfectly situated at the gateway to discovery. Set on the edge of the Haut-Hérault Regional Natural Park and within reach of the Mediterranean, this peaceful setting will be your home as you step back into deep time.

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That very day, you’ll meet the team of paleontologists who will guide your journey and visit the Cretaceous excavation site where ancient fossils lie waiting beneath the earth. As the sun lowers over the landscape, you’ll stand where dinosaurs once walked—your first unforgettable step into a world millions of years in the making.

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Accommodations: Chateau Village Castigno, double shared

Welcome drinks 

The site where you will be working—Montplo Nord—has quite an unusual story. It was discovered in 1996 by a local winegrower. After using a large stone to prop up his tractor, he began to think this wasn’t just any old stone. The Cruzy Museum confirmed that, this was in fact the humerus of a sauropod! The search for dinosaurs in Provence began!

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This almost completely intact Titanosaur measures 10 meters (33 feet.) and more finds followed, including Nodosaurs, Rhabdodons and the rare Gargantuavis philoinos, the largest known bird of the mesozoic —all dating from the Upper Cretaceous, or around 72 million years ago.

 

You'll be a part of the team unearthing fossils in Montpolo Nord site near Cruzy during 4 days of fieldwork working alongside paleontologists. 

 

Daily excavation schedule:

• 9:00am—Dig  day starts at the Montplo Nord site.

• 12pm to 3pm—Mid-day break in the lab with the dig team. Packed lunches will be provided

• 4pm-7pm—Excavation resumes until the end of the day

The team will be split in two groups. Each day, one team will be in the laboratory and another in the field.

 

Your contribution to the fieldwork at Montplo consists of:

• Collecting additional bones belonging to specimens already discovered on this site, for various ongoing and future scientific studies (titanosaur, rhabdodon, ankylosaur, gargantuavis, etc.)

• Better contextualize the repository environment

• Conduct topographic, sedimentological and geological surveys

• Look for layers that may contain rare plant remains

• Work on the historical collections of this site (preparation, sorting, storage and inventory)

• Sift fine sediments for microfossils
   

You will be provided with all tools and training in the excavation techniques. You can expect to use sledgehammers, chisels, and oyster knives and be capable of carrying sediment buckets and moving a wheelbarrow.

 

Included in your stay is a guided tour of the Cruzy Museum, paleontology collections and laboratory.

 

Please note: days in Cruzy can get extremely hot. Tarps and protective equipment, will be provided, but hats and sun protection are mandatory.

 

What to bring: 

• Loose-fitting, long pants

• Long sleeved shirts

• Broken-in boots 

• Moisture-wicking socks

• Broad-brimmed hat with a windstrap

• Gloves

• Water bottle

• Sunscreen

• Quick-drying jacket

• Small backpack

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Accommodations: Chateau Village Castigno, double shared

Meals Daily breakfast and lunch and farewell dinner, otherwise dinner is on your own

Departing Cruzy, you’ll travel by private transport on a two-hour drive to the renowned wine village of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. No visit to Provence would be complete without experiencing its winemaking heritage, and the day begins with a tasting at Domaine Saint Patrice or Domaine de la Barroche. Afterward, enjoy time to explore the village and have lunch at one of its well-regarded local restaurants.

 

In the early afternoon, the itinerary continues to the impressive 12th-century Château du Barroux, set against the distinctive rock formations of the Dentelles de Montmirail. The castle offers expansive views of the surrounding countryside and also features a permanent fossil exhibit—an unexpected and fascinating highlight. Excavated by local paleontologist Luc Ebbo, the collection includes marine reptiles and ammonites, complemented by life-sized illustrations. A visit to Luc’s laboratory provides insight into the careful work involved in fossil preparation and research.

 

The day concludes with a visit to the Ochre Mines of Gargas, where you’ll learn how this naturally occurring mineral—formed when Provence was once submerged beneath the sea—has been used by humans for hundreds of thousands of years. Red ochre, in particular, is believed to have played an important role in early artistic expression and ritual, offering meaningful context for understanding human cultural development.​

 

Accommodations: La Bastide de la Source, double shared

Meals Breakfast and dinner

Get ready for two more days fully immersed in the world of fossils. The morning begins with a scenic 30-minute hike to a dramatic rock face where traces of ancient mammal bones and footprints are still visible—silent evidence of life that roamed this landscape some 35 million years ago.

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Along the way, you’ll stop to enjoy a packed lunch together before continuing on to the Museum of Paleontology and Archaeology in Vachères, a beautifully preserved 16th-century village in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. Inside, you’ll encounter one of the region’s most remarkable discoveries: Bachitherium, often called the “gazelle of Provence.” This exceptionally preserved, 30-million-year-old fossil represents an extinct ancestor of modern deer and bovids.

 

Accommodations: La Bonne Etape Hotel , double shared

Meals Breakfast and Farewell dinner

Before concluding your journey later today, you'll spend the morning  visiting Luc Ebbo’s Paleogalerie, home to a remarkable private collection of 100-million-year-old fossils from the Vocontian Basin—all personally found, excavated, and prepared by Luc himself.

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The collection includes a rare juvenile theropod dinosaur and one of the most complete ichthyosaurs ever discovered in this region. Marine fossils are on display, highlighting the  abundance of ancient sea life in the area.  

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From here, the journey continues through the scenic Digne Valley, an area internationally recognized for its geological significance. In Digne-les-Bains, you’ll stop for lunch and visit the Ammonite Wall, a massive rock face embedded with hundreds of visible ammonite fossils—while also stopping along the way to see  two ichthyosaur discovery sites.

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A private transfer to Nice brings the expedition to a close. The drive offers a final opportunity to reflect on the layers of history you’ve explored—from ancient seas and dinosaurs to medieval villages and modern Provence—before arriving on the Côte d’Azur.

 

Meals Breakfast

1. What makes the Montplo Nord Site in Cruzy significant?
   The Montplo deposit has yielded nearly 2200 fossils, remarkable for their exceptional quality of preservation. A rarity that allows researchers to examine the anatomy of these remains in minute detail! The majority of the discoveries involve dinosaurs, but the site has also revealed a varied fauna: crocodiles, turtles, fish, birds, pterosaurs, and lizards. The quantity is one thing, the quality of the fossils is another. After an organism dies, its remains undergo various processes called taphonomy, which can alter or disperse them. Scavenging animals, for instance, can consume parts of the carcasses, while others, by trampling them, contribute to their dispersion. Environmental conditions (water, soil acidity, oxygen, etc.) can also play a role in the quality of an organism's preservation. In Montplo, some fossils are so well-preserved that details that are difficult to see in other sites, such as muscle attachments or invertebrate marks, can be studied.

2. What has been most surprising about your discoveries at this location?​
   In addition to the quality of preservation, the quantity and the diversity this site has proven to be a veritable mine of information!

3. What are your current research objectives at your site? 
   Collect additional bones belonging to specimens already discovered on this site, for various ongoing and future scientific studies. Including Titanosaurs, the largest land animals to have ever existed, Rhabdodon, an ornithopod that only lived in Europe, Ankylosaur and Gargantuavis philoinos, which  is the largest known bird of the Mesozoic

4. What was most important or rewarding find at this site?​
   it is difficult to make an exhaustive list of the most beautiful or interesting pieces because 2200 fossils have been collected and all of them are extremely important to better understand the ecosystem as a whole.That said, we were particularly pleased to find the remains of a large non-avian bird (garguantuavis philoinos) because only some parts of the birds have been previously found and described. We’d have to include the discovery of an ankylosaurus dinosaur found at this site in addition to the mandible (jaw) of a titanosaur that is possibly a new species.

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More Reading

• A femur of the Late Cretaceous giant bird Gargantuavis from Cruzy (southern France) and its systematic implications

• Pelvic elements of the giant bird Gargantuavis from the Upper Cretaceous of Cruzy

• New evidence of a giant bird from the Late Cretaceous of France

• Pricing is per person based on double occupancy.

• Single occupancy is €4,775

 

Includes:

• All tools for archaeological excavation are provided, along with dedicated on-site training, instruction, and supervision.

• The cost of the dig includes funds to support the archaeological fieldwork and research

• 6 nights accommodation

• Meals as indicated

• Activities as indicated in the itinerary

 

Excludes:​

• International airfare

• Transportation to Avignon and from Nice

• Personal, travel and medical insurance

• Alcoholic beverages

• ​​​​​Visa fees

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Deposits, Fees and Cancellations: 

• Upon booking, a deposit of 30% will be collected with the balance to be paid 60 days prior arrival.

• If a cancellation is made after receipt of the deposit, but before the 60-day final payment due date, deposits will be refunded by bank transfer, less a cancellation fee of €150 per person.
  -For cancellations between 60 and 45 days before arrival, the full deposit is non-refundable.

• For cancellations within 45 days of arrival, 100% of the trip cost is due. No refunds shall be made