A remarkable discovery has been made in Oxfordshire, England, revealing a prehistoric 'dinosaur highway' dating back 166 million years. Hundreds of dinosaur footprints belonging to various species, including long-necked herbivores and fearsome predators, have been unearthed in the Dewars Farm Quarry.
Just a few hundred metres from the roaring traffic of the M40, scientists have uncovered a very different kind of road. Around 166 million years ago Britain's 'dinosaur highway' was teaming with lumbering giants and fierce predators making their way across the country. Researchers from the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham have uncovered a huge expanse of quarry floor filled with hundreds of different dinosaur footprints.
Scientists found five of the UK's most extensive dinosaur trackways, with the longest measuring 150m in length. Four of these belong to long-necked herbivores - most likely Cetiosaurus, an 18-metre-long cousin of the Diplodocus. The fifth track was made by a passing Megalosaurus, a ferocious nine-metre-long predator which stalked the boggy lagoons of Britain during the Middle Jurassic period. These uniquely well-preserved tracks reveal some stunning insights into the lives of the long-extinct giants, even recording the moment two dinosaurs crossed paths. And researchers say it is 'very likely' that there are still more tracks to be found. Scientists have uncovered Britain's 'dinosaur highway' where giant herbivores and fierce predators would have passed 166 million years ago In the Dewars Farm Quarry in Oxfordshire, palaeontologists have found more than 200 dinosaur footprints in five distinct sets of tracks The tracks were found in the Jurassic limestone of the Dewars Farm Quarry in Oxfordshire. Originally buried under clay, these new tracks were first spotted by quarry worker Gary Johnson when he felt 'unusual bumps' while stripping back the clay to reach the quarry floor. Realising the significance of the find, experts were contacted and a full-scale excavation of the site began. During June last year, more than 100 scientists and volunteers carefully uncovered over 200 fossilised footprint
DINOSAURS FOSSILS BRITAIN ARCHAEOLOGY PREHISTORY
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