The discovery of the sites
The discoverer, Lluís Marià Vidal i Carreres
Mining engineer, geologist, pioneering photographer. He was born in 1842 into a wealthy family and was a good student who began his studies at the School of Industrial Engineers in Barcelona, although he ended up obtaining the title of Mining Engineer at the School of Mines in Madrid. Despite these studies, Lluís Marià is a great fan of geology, palaeontology and prehistory.
His professional beginnings were developed within the Cuerpo de Ingenieros de Minas del Estado and his first destination was the lead mining deposits of Linares, in Jaén. The next destination was the coal mines of Utrillas and it was not until 1869 that he obtained the destination of Barcelona from the General Directorate of Mines. He was commissioned to study the lignites of Berga, which allowed him to study the Garumnian soils, which straddle the Upper Cretaceous and the Tertiary. In 1875 he made the first geological mention of the Serra del Montsec in his work Geology of the province of Lleida.
In 1888 he was assigned to the province of Lleida as responsible for mining resources and also began photography, which has allowed us to preserve images of various Catalan towns from the late nineteenth century. These images, which are in the public domain, can be consulted in the photographic archive of the Centre Excursionista de Catalunya (http://mdc.csuc.cat/cdm/search/searchterm/Llu%C3%ADs%20Mari%C3%A0%20Vidal%20i%20Carreras/mode/exact/page/1). He was a pioneer of mountain photography. He recorded photographs that can be considered the oldest in the southern sector of the Pyrenees, the Val d’Aran and Andorra.
He was a member of numerous national and international scientific associations: president of the Centre Excursionista de Catalunya, the Ateneu Barcelonès and the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona; honorary member of the Board of Natural Sciences of Barcelona and vice-president of the Geological Society of France.
First scientific news
Although the quarry was already in operation in 1898 and the lithographic limestones of La Cabroa have also been recognized in October of that same year, there is nothing to suggest that the first fossils had been found. In fact, according to Aragonés (2019), members of the Société Gelògic de France do not visit lithographic limestone exploitations. It seems that the first fossil remains, plant remains, appear during the year 1900 or early 1901, shortly before the expedition he made to the seedbed in July of the same year. It is Vidal’s first visit to collect fossils, which he considers to be from the Jurassic.
The first news about the Montsec is a presentation at an ordinary session of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona that was read by Lluís Marià Vidal on February 27, 1902. In this note he announced the presence of a varied sample of fish, other vertebrates and plant prints in a quarry near the village of Santa Maria de Meià. For Vidal, the most important piece was an amphibian, baptized with the name Paleobatrachus gaudryi.
Journeys to the paleontological site
From 1902 to 1916, Vidal made several very short trips to the quarry. In 1902 a few hours, in 1903 a couple of days, in 1902 a day, in 1904 a day. From these visits are the 19 photographic plates that are kept in the Vidal Collection of the AFCEC and that tell us about life in the quarry. In October 1911 he made his last trip to La Pedrera, this time with his vehicle (a Cottin-Desgouttes), spending the night in Santa Maria.