Woman discovers record-breaking dinosaur footprint from over 160 million years ago on UK beach
An incredible footprint of a dinosaur discovered on a Yorkshire beach back in 2021 has determined that it was made 166 million years ago by a megalosaurus that stopped for a rest.
Archaeologist Marie Woods was out collecting shellfish on the beach at Burniston Bay, near Scarborough, when she discovered more than just that night's dinner.
As she scavenged shellfish by the sea shore, Marie got 'completely distracted' when she stumbled across a giant three toed footprint and ended up making one of the greatest dinosaur discoveries in British history.
Now, two years later the fossilised footprint is set to go on display at Scarborough's Rotunda Museum, which is quite fitting since it's the largest footprint of a bipedal (walks on two legs) dinosaur ever found in Yorkshire.
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Going by the size of the footprint experts believe the dinosaur was a large meat eater which could have been up to 30 foot long.
Marie wasn't actually the first person to discover this fossilised footprint, with local collector Rob Taylor getting a look at it five months before it was uncovered in April 2021, but her full discovery of it was very significant.
While Rob had even managed to post pictures of the partially uncovered footprint to Facebook the true significance of the find wasn't known until Marie came across the whole thing.
She contacted dinosaur specialists about her incredible discovery and it's a very good thing she found it, as palaeontologist Dr Dean Lomax said the footprint was in a 'fragile state' and ran the risk of being 'lost to the sea'.
At the time Marie said: "I couldn’t believe what I was looking at, I had to do a double-take. I have seen a few smaller prints when out with friends, but nothing like this.
"At the time of the discovery, it generated a lot of public interest and I was overwhelmed with the messages on social media from people around the globe."
The footprint itself is an incredible testament to the moment over 160 million years ago that a massive, monstrous and (most likely) meat-eating dinosaur strode across this particular part of the land, setting down to rest for a moment.
That moment has been etched into time and stone, hopefully for all eternity, and is an awesome reminder of the fact that dinosaurs once roamed the land we live on millions of years before we showed up.
Hailing from the Middle Jurassic period, the dinosaur that left this mark is long gone but there are surely fossils aplenty still left to discover across the world.
Joe Harker