Visiting Angeac
Discover the site as a visitor
At Angeac, discover dinosaurs close to the research itself.
In the Charente valley, between Cognac and Angoulême, the excavation reveals the inhabitants of an ancient wetland. Discover how fossils are excavated, cleaned and studied, then continue your visit with the Musée d’Angoulême collections.
Excavations are not open to public applications
There is no public registration to excavate at Angeac-Charente. The excavation team is organised internally by the scientific directors and universities, which put students in contact with the association. There is no open registration or public application programme.
Supporting the association or visiting the site does not give access to participation in excavations. Please do not use the contact forms to request an excavation place.
All year round
The outdoor discovery area is freely accessible. Information panels and games explore the site and its history.
During the summer excavation season
Guided visits to the dig require booking. Dates, times and availability are announced in the season’s programme.
Meet the fossils and the people
Research at close quarters
With a guide, watch the excavators at work and discover what bones, teeth and shells reveal about Angeac’s world. From fieldwork to sorting finds, the visit introduces research in progress.
Free visits are offered during the summer excavation season, usually in July. Booking with the organisers is compulsory; the visitor route remains separate from the working areas.
Discovery workshops are also offered for children. Check the organisers’ programme for age requirements, times and booking.
Book a visit or discovery workshop ↗
An outdoor discovery area
Discover Angeac all year round
Beside the fossil site, the Département de la Charente has created an outdoor discovery area of approximately 300 m², freely accessible throughout the year.
Panels introduce the Early Cretaceous landscape, the animals and plants recovered, and palaeontological methods. Games give younger visitors another way to explore this lost world.
The area can be visited independently of the excavation: outside the field season, it remains an introduction to the site’s history.
From tiny fossils to giants
From bones to extinct animals
Large sauropods catch the eye, but they are only part of the story. Dinosaurs, turtles, crocodiles, fish and plant remains help reconstruct an entire ecosystem.
Fossils and casts displayed along the visitor route explain animal anatomy and the scale of some discoveries. A sauropod foot bone offers a starting point for imagining the giant to which it belonged.
Another perspective on the discoveries
From the dig to illustrated notebooks
Drawings give extinct animals a recognisable form and record the team’s life. Present at the excavations since 2010, Mazan connects the artist’s perspective with that of palaeontologists.
Books, notebooks and images extend this encounter with the site. Publications available on site and opportunities to meet artists depend on the field season’s arrangements and their presence.
Visitor information: Département de la Charente and Destination Cognac, accessed 25 October 2026. Photographs: Escale à l’Ouest, article by Rozenn ; views of the site and museum published in 2023.
Continue exploring
From the dig to the Musée d’Angoulême
After visiting the dig, discover Angeac’s dinosaurs at the Musée d’Angoulême. Fossils, casts and collection displays connect field discoveries with the animals and landscapes they reveal.
Discover how an excavated bone becomes a research specimen, conserved heritage and a story to share.
Continue at the Musée d’Angoulême →