166-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Footprints Unearthed In England
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An observant worker at Dewars Farm Quarry in England has helped uncover hundreds of dinosaur footprints. The fossils date back to the Middle Jurassic period (around 166 million years ago). They belong to some of the United Kingdom's largest dinosaurs and offer new insights into their movement patterns.
Gary Johnson first noticed the "strange bumps" in June 2024 while stripping the clay that covered them. He was trying to expose the quarry floor. Curious about what had caused them, he contacted experts at Birmingham and Oxford University. A team of 100 scientists spent a week carefully excavating the site. They found over 200 footprints forming five separate trackways. The longest one stretched over 492 feet (150 m).
The archeologists believe four trackways were made by long-necked, plant-eating dinosaurs called Sauropods. These giants could reach up to 60 feet (18 m) tall and weigh over ten tons. The fifth trackway belonged to the Megalosaurus, a three-toed, meat-eating predator. Measuring around 30 feet (9 m) long, it was the first dinosaur named and described by scientists in 1824.
In one area, the carnivore and herbivore tracks crossed. This led the researchers to wonder if the two had interacted. They estimate that both dinosaurs walked at speeds similar to a human's — about 3 miles (4.8 km) per hour.
"These footprints offer an extraordinary window into the lives of dinosaurs, revealing details about their movements, interactions, and the tropical environment they inhabited," said Professor Kirsty Edgar at the University of Birmingham.
This is not the first time dinosaur tracks have been found in the quarry. In 1997, researchers uncovered 40 sets of footprints. Some trackways stretched up to 590 feet (180 m). However, that area is no longer accessible. Also, with no digital cameras or drones available at the time, only a few photos exist.
That will not be the case with the latest discovery, revealed on January 2, 2025. This time, the scientists have taken over 20,000 images and created detailed 3D models for further analysis.
"There is much more that we can learn from this site, which is an important part of our national Earth heritage," said University of Birmingham professor Richard Butler. "Our 3D models will allow researchers to continue to study and make accessible this fascinating piece of our past for generations to come.”
Resources: PBS.org, Livescience.com, Birmingham.ac.uk
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54 Comments
ashlyariosloveabout 2 hoursVery cool and interesting because I like dinosaurs but Im wondering what it will be next of this
ojsoking1 dayI think this article was very interesting because I thought that to see dinosaur footprints in this era is phenomenal and if I found the footprint of these dinos I would see if it was real. I would recommend this to anyone who loves dinosaurs and paleontologists including Ms. Pugleise.
lucyanara2013143 daysi will use this to my presentatin of the monday
teacherb20223 daysAmazing! I wonder what will happen next.
sophiakrissy63 daysit's nice
garciaast3 daysI think that's super cool, and why do they just now discover them?- sophh3 dayswow this is amazing
brinleywolfgong4 daysSuper cool- vaworacoraka4 daysI didn't know that you could figure out the speed of a dinosaurs just by looking at their footprint!!! :)
- sumuserydule4 daysWell you check the measurement of the footprint and see how far they are from each other
laree5 daysnice!
