The story seems incredible, and yet it is very real. Last June, while using his excavator at his workplace, the Dewars Farm quarry, in Oxfordshire (south-east England), Gary Johnson noticed “unusual bumps” on the construction site. He immediately notifies the experts. After the study of the marks on the ground, the verdict of the paleontologists turns out to be most surprising, but is clear: these arefossilized dinosaur footprints, left 166 million years ago. In total, there are nearly 200 footprints, coming from five very distinct dinosaurs.
It was completely by chance that the prints were discovered
An unexpected find on this ancient warm, shallow water lagoon. If the footprints are already, in themselves, a stunning discovery, scientists also emphasize the extremely rare length of the footprint track of one of the dinosaurs. This extends over 150 meters. Result: scientists quickly nicknamed the site“dinosaur highway”. Faced with these figures, Emma Nicholls, a paleontologist specializing in vertebrates at the Natural History Museum at the University of Oxford, affirmed that this site could well turn out to be one of the most important in the world.
A “dinosaur highway” unique
After the discovery of the worker, around a hundred scientists began in-depth research. Excavations observed by the two universities of Oxford and Birmingham, especially since experts notice the presence of five different dinosaursthanks to these prints. Four of these marks, very similar to those of elephants (but much more imposing) seem to have been left by herbivorous species, sauropods, known for their long necks and which can reach 18 meters in height.
Herbivore and carnivore footprints
The last mark would be that of the most great predator of the Jurassic in England, the megalosaurus. Scientists think of this bipedal carnivore, because the traces very clearly reveal the three claws with which the mastodon had. These traces, found close to each other, could raise the question of possible cohabitation, or even interaction between herbivores and carnivores.
But then, how could 166 million year old footprints have been preserved and visible today? At the moment, experts do not have an exact answer. However, Richard Butler, a paleobiologist from the University of Birmingham, suggested that it was possible that a “storm deposited sediment on the footprints, which allowed them to be frozen”. Research continues to refute or affirm this hypothesis.
The site was photographed at length, notably thanks to the use of drones, to keep a record of this incredible discovery. On January 8, BBC Two will reveal these images to the public, in the archeology program Digging for Britain.
Article references:
“Very rare” discovery of more than 200 dinosaur footprints
Around 200 dinosaur footprints discovered in a quarry in England
United Kingdom: 200 dinosaur footprints discovered in southern England
