French Architect Appointed Designer of Oasis Agriculture Campus in AlUla

RCU has appointed French architect Francis Keré to design its oasis agriculture campus. SPA
RCU has appointed French architect Francis Keré to design its oasis agriculture campus. SPA
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French Architect Appointed Designer of Oasis Agriculture Campus in AlUla

RCU has appointed French architect Francis Keré to design its oasis agriculture campus. SPA
RCU has appointed French architect Francis Keré to design its oasis agriculture campus. SPA

Saudi Arabia’s Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) has appointed French architect Francis Keré to design its oasis agriculture campus, which seeks to improve work in the agricultural sector and support the development of agricultural technologies based on a comprehensive vision that aims to support economic development in AlUla.

Keré is an internationally renowned architect who was named the 2023 Praemium Imperiale laureate for architecture. He has won several international awards, including the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, for his excellence in designing projects in various countries, such as Burkina Faso, the US, Germany, Britain and Uganda.

The campus, which will be the first of its kind in the world, aims to preserve AlUla's heritage, restore historic buildings, foster a sustainable local economy, enable farmers to better manage and improve their businesses by integrating agricultural production with tourism, and build an intergenerational social network of farmers to ensure the exchange and preservation of local knowledge.

It seeks to create a space that offers a wide array of facilities, including an education center, a community center, incubator farms, and agritourism facilities.

RCU works to preserve AlUla’s unique identity and rich heritage, and make it a leading global destination for cultural and natural heritage.



'Dinosaur Highway' Tracks Dating Back 166 Million Years are Discovered in England

In this undated photo provided by the University of Birmingham on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, work underway as five extensive trackways that formed part of a "dinosaur highway" are uncovered, at Dewars Farm Quarry in Oxfordshire, England. (University of Birmingham via AP)
In this undated photo provided by the University of Birmingham on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, work underway as five extensive trackways that formed part of a "dinosaur highway" are uncovered, at Dewars Farm Quarry in Oxfordshire, England. (University of Birmingham via AP)
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'Dinosaur Highway' Tracks Dating Back 166 Million Years are Discovered in England

In this undated photo provided by the University of Birmingham on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, work underway as five extensive trackways that formed part of a "dinosaur highway" are uncovered, at Dewars Farm Quarry in Oxfordshire, England. (University of Birmingham via AP)
In this undated photo provided by the University of Birmingham on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, work underway as five extensive trackways that formed part of a "dinosaur highway" are uncovered, at Dewars Farm Quarry in Oxfordshire, England. (University of Birmingham via AP)

A worker digging up clay in a southern England limestone quarry noticed unusual bumps that led to the discovery of a “dinosaur highway” and nearly 200 tracks that date back 166 million years, researchers said Thursday.

The extraordinary find made after a team of more than 100 people excavated the Dewars Farm Quarry, in Oxfordshire, in June expands upon previous paleontology work in the area and offers greater insights into the Middle Jurassic period, researchers at the universities of Oxford and Birmingham said.

“These footprints offer an extraordinary window into the lives of dinosaurs, revealing details about their movements, interactions, and the tropical environment they inhabited,” said Kirsty Edgar, a micropaleontology professor at the University of Birmingham, The AP reported.

Four of the sets of tracks that make up the so-called highway show paths taken by gigantic, long-necked, herbivores called sauropods, thought to be Cetiosaurus, a dinosaur that grew to nearly 60 feet (18 meters) in length. A fifth set belonged to the Megalosaurus, a ferocious 9-meter predator that left a distinctive triple-claw print and was the first dinosaur to be scientifically named two centuries ago.

An area where the tracks cross raises questions about possible interactions between the carnivores and herbivores.

“Scientists have known about and been studying Megalosaurus for longer than any other dinosaur on Earth, and yet these recent discoveries prove there is still new evidence of these animals out there, waiting to be found," said Emma Nicholls, a vertebrate paleontologist at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

Nearly 30 years ago, 40 sets of footprints discovered in a limestone quarry in the area were considered one of the world's most scientifically important dinosaur track sites. But that area is mostly inaccessible now and there's limited photographic evidence because it predated the use of digital cameras and drones to record the findings.

The group that worked at the site this summer took more than 20,000 digital images and used drones to create 3-D models of the prints. The trove of documentation will aid future studies and could shed light on the size of the dinosaurs, how they walked and the speed at which they moved.

“The preservation is so detailed that we can see how the mud was deformed as the dinosaur’s feet squelched in and out," said Duncan Murdock, an earth scientist at the Oxford museum. "Along with other fossils like burrows, shells and plants we can bring to life the muddy lagoon environment the dinosaurs walked through.”

The findings will be shown at a new exhibit at the museum and also broadcast on the BBC's “Digging for Britain” program next week.