Pre-historic monster's skeleton due to go on show in March

The skeleton of a marine reptile that swam the oceans over 145 million years ago and unearthed in Cambridgeshire is set to go on display in March from this weekend.

Ella the plesiosaur, named after the farmer's daughter who owns the land, was unearthed by locally-based palaentologist Jamie Jordan and his team in a field off the A14 between Cambridge and Huntingdon. The discovery came after one of the dinosaur's bones was dug up by a metal detectorist.

The detectorist took the bone to Jamie, who owns and runs Fossils Galore Museum in March High Street, who decided the farmer's field was worthy of further exploration - that was back in late 2019.

In early January 2020 Jamie and his partner Sarah Moore visited the field and found more bones lying on the field's surface brought to the top through years of ploughing activity.

Jamie said: "With so many bones it became clear that there was definitely more to find. With permission from the land owner me and the Fossils Galore team started to prepare to begin the dig for the skeleton, and then unfortunately the Covid pandemic started and all plans had to be put on hold."

In May this year the team were finally able to start their excavation using the farmer's excavator to try find more of the skeleton.

Over five weeks and through all kinds of weather the team were able to locate a large quantity of the dinosaur, which would have lived in the Jurassic period and would have inhabited the warm oceans that covered this part of the world at the time.

The elusive Loch Ness Monster is thought to be some sort of plesiosaur.

Jamie said from the size and structure of the bones found the animal, which would have fed on fish, squid and ammonites, was a juvenile when it died.

He said: "Although we are still in the process of cleaning and researching these bones we have already made some exciting discoveries including signs of healing from old injuries, predation marks and evidence of other animals such as sharks, who would have been savaging on our plesiosaur after death.

"It will take an estimated four years to fully clean, preserve and research this specimen, once complete we will have the skeleton laid out on display in the Fossils Galore Museum for everyone to see. So far we have an estimated 60-70 per cent of the skeleton, this number may change the more we clean and research. As we do more research we will be able to identify exactly which species of plesiosaur we have, there is even the possibility this could be a new species."

Ella will go on display at Fossils Galore from this weekend for locals to get a sneak peek before a bigger launch of the find next month.

There is an admission charge of £3 per person, younger babies free, and Jamie said the money will go towards funding the ongoing project.

Fossils Galore is always looking for more volunteers to help with the work at the museum, and would anyone interested should contact: 01354 278089.