The Dinosaur Site in Beit Zayit
This is not a theme park, but the site of the only known dinosaur footprints found in Israel. Because Israel was under the sea for much of the time during the period of the dinosaurs, many fossilized sea creatures have been found here but far fewer land animals are known to date.
The tracks are in an enclosed and locked park in Beit Zayit close to Jerusalem together with some life-sized dinosaur models. To unlock the park, one needs to obtain a key from the adjacent matnas, which means that one cannot enter on Shabbat or after 3.00 PM.
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Directions: Enter “Dinosaur site at Beit Zayit” into Waze and click on “אתר הדינוזאורים בית זיית מחוז ירושלים” There is street parking.
Admission: The garden is closed on Shabbat and after 3 PM; at other times, visitors need to obtain the key from the Beit Zayit secretariat, situated directly opposite the garden. Tel: +972 2 5346334.
Public transport: Enter “אתר הדינוזאורים בית זיית“ into Moovit. The bus stop is a short distance from the site.
Workers found by chance a large slab of rock in the village that had about 200 three-pronged, fork-like footprints. The footprints were studied by paleontologists (from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem among others) and they are believed to belong to a dinosaur similar to an ostrich, from a group of bipedal (two-legged) dinosaurs. The length of a step (stride) is about 1.5 meters, suggesting these were relatively large, fast-moving dinosaurs.
One can assume that many millions of years ago, the area that is now Beit Zayit was part of a muddy lake bottom where the dinosaur walked, leaving footprints that later fossilized in the rock. Some of the dinosaur prints are deeply imprinted and noticeably clear, while others are not. Among the best finds is a continuous row of tracks, stretching for some 33 feet, each step being about three feet apart. From the number of rows of tracks and their directions, one can assume that either 10 or so lone animals or a small herd traversed the area.
Dinosaurs roamed the Earth until about 66 million years ago when a large meteor struck the planet near Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, and this so-called Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event wiped out most land species, save for those whose descendants evolved into modern-day birds and reptiles.
The Dinosaur site at night