“These footprints provide a remarkable glimpse into the world of dinosaurs, offering insights into their behavior, interactions, and the environment they lived in,” remarked Kirsty Edgar, a professor of micropalaeontology at the University of Birmingham. Researchers have identified a new collection of trackways that suggest dinosaurs once traversed a muddy lagoon that now lies within a quarry.
“The level of preservation is exceptional, allowing us to observe how the mud was shaped by the dinosaurs’ movements,” explained Duncan Murdock, an earth scientist at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. “When combined with other fossils such as burrows, shells, and plants, we can reconstruct the environment of the muddy lagoon that these dinosaurs roamed.”
A week-long excavation of the footprints unveiled a connection between the newly discovered tracks and approximately 40 sets of footprints unearthed during previous limestone quarrying in 1997, according to the University of Oxford. More than 20,000 images of the newly found footprints have been generated to aid in further research on the locomotion, size, and potential interactions of these dinosaurs.
The University of Oxford reported that the discovery was made after a quarry worker noticed ‘unusual bumps’ in the ground, leading to the revelation of what has been dubbed a ‘dinosaur highway.’
Original article source: ‘Unusual bumps’ found by quarry worker leads to discovery of ‘dinosaur highway’
