UK's biggest ever dinosaur footprint site unearthed

In a remarkable discovery, the largest dinosaur footprint site ever found in the UK has been unearthed in a quarry located in Oxfordshire. This site features around 200 enormous footprints that date back 166 million years, revealing the paths of two distinct types of dinosaurs that once roamed the area. The footprints, which resemble large craters in the ground, indicate that a long-necked dinosaur known as Cetiosaurus and a smaller carnivorous dinosaur called Megalosaurus walked through a lagoon. The longest of these trackways measures an impressive 150 meters, but scientists believe they may extend even further since only a portion of the quarry has been excavated. Professor Kirsty Edgar, a micropalaeontologist from the University of Birmingham, expressed her excitement about the find, stating, 'This is one of the most impressive track sites I've ever seen, in terms of scale and the size of the tracks. ' She emphasized that these footprints allow us to step back in time and imagine what it was like when these massive creatures roamed the Earth. The distinctive three-toed prints are believed to have been made by the Megalosaurus. A team of four scientists, dressed in bright yellow safety gear, is diligently working to uncover these enormous footprints, which can reach up to 2 feet in width. The tracks stretch off into the distance, creating a fascinating sight. The discovery was first made by Gary Johnson, a worker at Dewars Farm Quarry, while he was operating a digger. He initially thought he had encountered an unusual bump in the ground. 'I was clearing the clay, and I hit a hump, thinking it was just an abnormality,' he recounted. However, as he continued to dig, he found more bumps that seemed to indicate the presence of dinosaur footprints. Having previously learned about another trackway site discovered in the 1990s, he realized that these could indeed be dinosaur tracks. 'I felt like I was the first person to see them. It was a surreal moment,' he shared with BBC News. This summer, more than 100 scientists, students, and volunteers participated in an excavation at the quarry, which is featured in the new series of Digging for Britain. The team successfully identified five different trackways, four of which were made by sauropods, large plant-eating dinosaurs that walked on four legs. Their footprints resemble those of elephants, only much larger, as these creatures could grow up to 18 meters in length. The fifth trackway is believed to have been created by a Megalosaurus. Dr. Emma Nicholls, a vertebrate palaeontologist from the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, described the Megalosaurus footprint as 'almost like a caricature of a dinosaur footprint. ' She explained that it is a tridactyl print, meaning it has three very clear toes. The Megalosaurus was an agile hunter, and its size ranged from 6 to 9 meters in length, making it one of the largest predatory dinosaurs known in Britain during the Jurassic period. The dinosaurs left their marks as they walked across a warm, shallow lagoon. An artist's impression illustrates two dinosaurs walking alongside each other on a sandy beach. The larger dinosaur, primarily bluish-grey, walks on four legs, while the smaller carnivore, depicted in greenish-white, walks on two legs. The environment they inhabited was a tropical lagoon, and the dinosaurs left their footprints in the soft mud. Professor Richard Butler, a palaeobiologist from the University of Birmingham, speculated about how these footprints were preserved in the fossil record. 'We don't know exactly what happened, but it might have been a storm that deposited sediments on top of the footprints, helping to preserve them instead of washing them away. ' During the excavation, the team meticulously studied the trackways. They created casts of the footprints and took over 20,000 photographs to develop 3D models of both the entire site and individual footprints. 'The wonderful thing about a dinosaur footprint, especially if you have a trackway, is that it provides a snapshot of the animal's life,' Professor Butler explained. 'You can learn about how the animal moved and what its environment was like. Tracks offer a different set of information that we cannot obtain from the fossilized bones alone. ' The trackways form a prehistoric crossroads, and an aerial drone shot captures the vast quarry with the dinosaur prints crisscrossing it. The excavation took place during the summer, with workers in bright yellow clothing visible in the quarry. One worker, wearing a yellow hard hat and vest, is carefully examining one of the footprints, which is a large crater in the ground. Nearby, tools and buckets are scattered around. Some of the trackways extend 150 meters and may continue even further into the quarry. One area reveals where the paths of a sauropod and a Megalosaurus intersected. The prints are so well-preserved that scientists can determine which dinosaur walked first. They believe it was the sauropod, as its large, round footprint is slightly compressed by the three-toed Megalosaurus that walked on top of it. 'Knowing that this individual dinosaur walked across this surface and left that print is exhilarating,' said Dr. Duncan Murdock from Oxford University. 'You can imagine it pulling its legs out of the mud as it moved. ' The future of the trackways is still uncertain, but scientists are collaborating with Smiths Bletchington, the quarry operators, and Natural England to explore options for preserving the site. They believe there may be more footprints waiting to be discovered, remnants of our prehistoric past. The excavation will be featured on BBC Two at 20:00 on Wednesday, January 8, with the full series available on BBC iPlayer starting January 7.