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Huge fossilised ‘sea dragon’ found in Rutland reservoir


DE&i

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25 minutes ago, paulgdls said:

This is me alongside Dr Emma Nicholls having just found several teeth from the beast. Also, her write up about the dig is below. It was an epic effort by a great team 

 

https://www.horniman.ac.uk/story/dr-emma-nicholls-helps-to-uncover-rutland-sea-dragon/

 

Dr-Emma-Nicholls-at-digging-for-Britain-site-2-with-Paul-de-la-Salle-from-The-Etches-Collection-1200x800.thumb.jpg.d493d67f32a1dd9263e542aacd15f133.jpg

 

 

Thank you Paul for stepping in, this epic story is waaaaay to big to cover myself.

 

Regards.....D&E&i

The only certainty with fossil hunting is the uncertainty.

https://lnk.bio/Darren.Withers

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Fantastic! Thanks for the link to the real story about this amazing find. What a lucky break for those studying the life and times of such creatures. And great for we that follow and appreciate the work of such experts. I'm guessing that if it was found a little further upland in some bogs, the press would be calling it, "Peat's Dragon". Sorry, I couldn't resist. This is a seriously great discovery. Cheers.

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2 hours ago, DE&i said:

Thank you Paul for stepping in, this epic story is waaaaay to big to cover myself.

 

 

Thanks for pointing this string out to me Darren. You did way more work on the project than me. I don't know how you kept going digging the trenches and so on for so long. That first day in the Winter must have been a real test of stamina. 

 

This is what the backbone looked like when found:

 

FIumH7KXoAAch4v.thumb.jpg.0ea286e132765125e3a6c1c01b8847b1.jpg

 

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How very exciting! That must have been tough to keep a secret for so long. Well done all the way around! I too, hope that it can remain in the area for all to enjoy.

Julianna

 
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The more I read about this, the more alive the excavation is becoming. What a surreal dream it must've been to work on this - it's the stuff of childhood dreams! :notworthy:

 

As you guys know, though, I like my marine reptile teeth... Are there any photographs of the teeth of this specimen that show their morphology that can be shared yet? Really dying to test my hypothesis on the identification of temnodontosaur (and generally ichthyosaur) teeth...

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'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett

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On 1/10/2022 at 8:24 AM, Bobby Rico said:

That’s great I missed this thanks. I hope it goes to New Walk Museum home of The Rutland Dinosaur . Cheers Bobby 

The plan is to keep it local to Rutland.

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Regards.....D&E&i

The only certainty with fossil hunting is the uncertainty.

https://lnk.bio/Darren.Withers

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In a Digging for Britain exclusive, we join palaeontologist Dr Dean Lomax in the middle of the largest artificial lake in the country, Rutland Water. Today, this nature reserve is home to many species of wildlife, but the team here are unearthing evidence of a far more monstrous past. They are painstakingly removing the Jurassic clay to reveal a 180 million-year-old fossil– which they hope will be the largest of its kind ever found in Britain.

Screenshot_2022-01-11-17-50-02-13_40deb401b9ffe8e1df2f1cc5ba480b12.jpg

Regards.....D&E&i

The only certainty with fossil hunting is the uncertainty.

https://lnk.bio/Darren.Withers

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Thank you @DE&i for all the info. Hopefully I can pull up the show here (Alaska). Just finished reading all the linked reports here. Loved the excavation write up.

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For those who, like me, don't live in the UK and are therefore not able to watch the "Digging for Britain" episode, but would still like to get a bit more of an impression of how the dig looked and felt, here are two videos I came across - unfortunately without sound (at least for me):

 

 

 

Seeing this really took me back to my time doing archaeological fieldwork. Just wish I could've been there, it looks like it was such a great and educational excavation! :hammer01:

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'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett

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