I can just see those dinosaurs plodding through the Cotswold mud | Mike Pitts

A dig near Bicester has uncovered spectacular tracks in what was once a Jurassic lagoon

There are many reasons to be excited about the dinosaur footprints whose discovery was announced last week. They will bring new understandings to the Jurassic world of more than 150m years ago. Their recording united quarry workers and more than a hundred scientists, students and other volunteers in a frenzied week of fieldwork. But there was something else in the images of long, winding trails across a stony plain in the Oxfordshire countryside. It looked to me as if great beasts had lumbered by, not in the distant past but just a few days before. I will never be able to rid my mind of the thought that they are alive now, out there somewhere. Who knew the Cotswolds were home to dinosaurs?

Smiths Bletchington’s limestone quarries have been turning up footprints for decades. The best came in 1997, at what is now a site of special scientific interest, in Ardley quarry: more than 40 sets, with trackways up to 180 metres long. The Ardley finds, made before digital recording, are hard to study today. But when the Oxford University Museum of Natural History heard of a nearby discovery late in 2023, it had high hopes. New technologies – including photogrammetry and drone photography – meant that anything of significance could be captured in detail, shared with scientists around the world and saved for posterity, whatever the fate of the actual prints. Palaeontologists from the museum and the universities of Birmingham and Oxford soon confirmed that Dewars Farm Quarry, a couple of miles from Ardley, was an important site. They mounted a dig last summer.

Topics

I
See
I
I See
Be

Can BAM Be a Trailblazer Again Through A.I.?

The Brooklyn organization, seeking new audiences and pushing boundaries, debuts Techne, four digital installations from the Onassis Foundation’s ONX Studio.
The New York Times - 1d
'I love being a superstar, but we can't just have one' - Maher's mission

American superstar Ilona Maher says rugby needs more people "connecting" with the sport after making her debut for Bristol Bears.
BBC News - 1d
Nikki Amuka-Bird: ‘I just played the prime minister and thought, me? Run the country?’

The actor, 48, talks about missing her charismatic mum, improvising throughout her life, being a pacifist despite everything and learning to use a gun. I became an orphan in my 40s, which was a ...
The Guardian - 2d
'I just can't believe it' - Luke Littler after win

Teenage darts sensation Luke Littler has become the youngest PDC World Championship winner in history.
BBC News - 3d
As a child psychiatrist, I see what smartphones are doing to kids' mental health – and it’s terrifying | Emily Sehmer

The online world is forcing children to grow up before they are ready, and parents need government’s help to combat its harms. Smartphone use among children has reached a critical moment. Many of ...
The Guardian - 3d
I thought I could be a ‘cool mum’ – just strap my baby to me and keep living life as usual. I was so wrong | Tara Kenny

I’ve discovered new ways to be cool: rhyme time is my cocktail hour, the park my catwalk and I have a nappy bag that’s chicer than a Fendi Baguette. When I was six months pregnant, against all ...
The Guardian - 4d
Aaron Rodgers: "If I wanna play and they don't want me here, then I'll see if there's other options."

On the first day of the New Year, Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers gave what might have been his last midweek press conference with the Jets.
Yahoo Sports - 4d
‘I heard the pops and I just ran’: New Orleans in shock after vehicle attack

Residents and tourists recall scrambling for cover as scenes unimaginable unfolded in the French Quarter. The silence on Bourbon Street told much of the story.. At the intersection that marks the ...
The Guardian - 5d
As a child, I couldn’t wait to change my Iranian nose. Now I’ve learned to see its beauty | Bea Dero

I photograph people with non-western features, and pay homage to our profiles and the history in our faces. “So when are you getting your nose job?” was a question 11-year-old me would often hear ...
The Guardian - 5d