Just a few hundred meters away from busy traffic on the M40 motorway, scientists have discovered a completely different kind of road.
About 166 million years ago, Britain’s ‘dinosaur highway’ was packed with lumbering giants and ferocious predators making their way across the country.
Researchers from the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham have discovered a huge area of quarry floor filled with hundreds of different dinosaur footprints.
Scientists have found five of the UK’s largest dinosaur tracks, with the longest measuring 150 metres.
Four of them belonged to long-necked herbivores – most likely Cetosaurus, an 18-metre-long cousin of Diplodocus.
The fifth path was cut by Megalosaurus Mar, a ferocious nine-metre-long predator that stalked the marshy lakes of Britain during the Middle Jurassic.
These unique, well-preserved tracks reveal some amazing insights into the lives of long-extinct giants, and even record the moment two dinosaurs crossed.
The researchers say it is “highly likely” that there are still more tracks to be found.
Scientists have discovered a ‘dinosaur highway’ in Britain, where giant herbivores and ferocious predators passed through it 166 million years ago.
At the Dewars Farm quarry in Oxfordshire, archaeologists have found more than 200 dinosaur footprints in five distinct sets of tracks
The tracks were found in Jurassic limestone at Dewars Farm quarry in Oxfordshire.
These new tracks were originally buried under clay, and were first discovered by quarry worker Gary Johnson when he felt “unusual bumps” while stripping clay to reach the quarry floor.
Realizing the importance of the discovery, experts were contacted and extensive excavations began at the site.
During June of last year, more than 100 scientists and volunteers carefully unearthed more than 200 fossilized footprints.
In addition to making casts of the prints for further study, the researchers also took more than 20,000 photographs to create a full 3D model of the site.
The discovery links to previous discoveries made in the area in 1997 when a former limestone quarry revealed more than 40 tracks of sauropods and theropods, a group of bipedal dinosaurs including Tyrannosaurus rex.
However, the site was buried before the widespread use of digital cameras and drones, so it was not possible to make 3D models of the tracks.
This means that this latest discovery represents a particularly insightful insight into the vibrant prehistoric ecosystem.
Four of the tracks belong to a long-necked sauropod dinosaur, most likely the 18-meter-long Cetosaurus (right). The last remaining group belongs to the megalosaurus (left), a ferocious predator that reached nine meters in length
The tracks extend up to 150 meters along the bottom of the quarry and were discovered when a worker noticed “unusual protrusions” in the limestone.
About 166 million years ago, before this layer of limestone formed, this part of Oxfordshire was a shallow, warm lake atop a thick layer of clay.
Dr Duncan Murdock, a paleontologist from the University of Oxford, told MailOnline: ‘When the feet of the giant animals, some weighing up to 10 tonnes, entered the mud, they left behind an impression of the foot and a rim of displaced clay around the print.
The surface was then flooded and buried with rich clay, to preserve the footprints. Over time and further burial, these sediments turned into rocks.
This thick clay preserved incredible levels of detail, so scientists could see how the clay deformed as the dinosaurs’ feet crunched in and out of the ground.
“Unlike fossil bones, discoveries like this tell us about the behavior of extinct animals,” says Dr. Murdock.
He added: “The size, shape and position of the footprints can tell us about how these dinosaurs moved, their size and their speed.”
Each track of the three-toed megalosaurus was approximately 65cm long and spaced 2.7m apart.
Based on those measurements, scientists estimate that this ancient predator walked around at about three miles per hour (five kilometers per hour), about the same speed as a human walking.
By looking at the size and distribution of footprints, scientists can learn how dinosaurs moved and how fast they moved at the time.
The megalosaurus (left) produced footprints measuring 65 cm long, and likely moved at a speed of about three miles per hour (five kilometers per hour). The dinosaur left huge footprints measuring 90cm long (right) and is thought to have moved at a speed similar to that of a human walking
At some point along the way, paleontologists discovered a point where megalosaurs and sauropods met.
Based on disturbances in the clay, scientists believe the sauropods passed through first, followed by the megalosaurs later.
“When paths cross, we get a glimpse of potential interactions between species as diverse as the carnivorous megalosaurus and the giant herbivorous sauropods,” says Dr. Murdock.
Although these discoveries are already exciting, experts say there is still more to be discovered.
Professor Kirsty Edgar, a micropaleontologist from the University of Birmingham, told MailOnline it was “very likely” more traces would be found.
She says: ‘When an animal walks on a surface and leaves a mark in the soft sediment, this… [tracks are] Most common around the edges of rivers, lakes, or coastal environments in general.
In addition, the Dewars Ranch quarry is still actively quarrying layers of rock above the surface of the track, meaning there may be more discoveries to come as the Jurassic limestone is exposed.
Smiths Bletchington, the quarry operators, are working with Natural England to explore options to preserve the site for the future.