A worker excavating clay in a limestone quarry in southern England has come across unusual fragments that led to the discovery of a “dinosaur highway” and about 200 tracks dating back 166 million years, researchers said Thursday. .

The unusual discovery, which was made in June 2024 by a team of more than 100 people after excavating Devers Farm Quarry in Oxfordshire, extends paleontological work in the area, and researchers from the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham have discovered the Middle Jurassic. has provided more insight into the era. said.

“These footprints offer an extraordinary window into the lives of dinosaurs, revealing details about their movements, interactions and the tropical environment they inhabited,” said Christy Edgar, professor of micropaleontology at the University of Birmingham. do.”

The four sets of tracks that make up the so-called highway show the paths taken by enormous, long-necked, herbivorous animals known as sauropods, which are thought to have been satyrosaurus, a is a dinosaur that grew to about 18 meters in length. The fifth set belonged to Megalosaurus, a massive nine-meter predator that left a distinctive triple claw print and was the first dinosaur to be scientifically named more than two centuries ago.

An area where crossing tracks raises questions about potential interactions between carnivores and herbivores.

“Scientists have known and studied Megalosaurus longer than any other dinosaur on Earth, and yet these recent discoveries prove that there is still new evidence to be discovered about these animals. are, waiting to be discovered,” said Emma Nicholls, Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

About 30 years ago, 40 sets of footprints discovered in a limestone quarry in the area were considered one of the most scientifically important dinosaur track sites in the world. But that area is now largely inaccessible and there is limited photographic evidence since he predated the use of digital cameras and drones to record the results.

A group working on the site last summer took more than 20,000 digital photos and used drones to create 3D models of the prints. The archive of documents will help future studies and shed light on the size of the dinosaurs, how they walked and the speed at which they moved.

“The preservation is so detailed that we can see how the mud was deformed when the dinosaur’s feet pressed in and out,” said Duncan Murdoch, a geologist at the Oxford Museum. “Along with other fossils such as burrows, shells and plants we can recreate the muddy lake environment that the dinosaurs lived through.”

The findings will be featured in a new exhibition at the museum and will also be broadcast on the BBC. Digging for Britain Program next week