Work begins to excavate dinosaur skeleton
WORK has begun on excavating a 160 million year old dinosaur skeleton found locally embedded in a large piece of prehistoric rock.
The Plesiosaur was found in Peterborough, an area dubbed East of England’s hidden Jurassic area by Jamie Jordan, the discoverer of the fossil.
Jamie, owner of Peakirk-based fossils and mineral museum Fossils Galore, said: “This is a really exciting find and we hope to have 80 per cent of the original Plesiosaur bones. At 15 meters long, it would have resembled something like the depictions of the Loch Ness Monster.”
The Plesiosaur was a sea dwelling dinosaur that had four flippers, something that in today’s day and age no modern animal possesses. The Plesiosaur also had a long neck and powerful jaws that are thought to have been used to bite through the hard shells of their prey.
Jamie said: “We believe that our Plesiosaur was a juvenile that died in an impact. As we excavate the rib cage from the rock, we will learn more about this fascinating creature.
“This isn’t an overnight project though, and we estimate it might take a number of years to complete.”
Fossils Galore is a new fossil and mineral museum located at the St Pegas Granary just north of Peterborough.
It operates one of Europe’s first ‘fish bowl’ preparation labs where visitors can see Jamie and his team of volunteers reveal their extraordinary find.
“Excavating the fossil consists of taking the bones out of the rock with an air scribe. The bones are then cleaned, preserved and dried. Once complete we will display the Plesiosaur with all the other fossils we have on display.”
For more information about Fossils Galore visit www.fossilsgalore.com
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Thursday 17 May 2012
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