18 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

New Study Exposes Origins of Welsh Dragons

In a new study conducted by a team from the University of Bristol and published in the Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, crucial details about the early Welsh dinosaurs have been unveiled for the first time.

Wales now has important new information about the dinosaur era thanks to a major fossil find. There was no evidence of dinosaur presence in the land of the dragon until recently. However, several dinosaur fossils have been reported over the past decade, although their living conditions remained largely unknown.

Researchers found that early Welsh dinosaurs from over 200 million years ago lived on a tropical lowland beside the sea. Dinosaur trackways are known from Barry and other sites nearby, showing that dinosaurs had walked across the warm lowlands.

The discovery was made at Lavernock Point, close to Cardiff and Penarth, where the cliffs of dark-colored shales and limestones document ancient shallow seas. At several levels, there are accumulations of bones, including the remains of fish, sharks, marine reptiles, and occasionally, dinosaurs.

Former student of the Bristol MSc in Paleobiology Owain Evans, who led the study, explained, “The bone bed paints the picture of a tropical archipelago, which was subjected to frequent storms, that washed material from around the surrounding area, both in land and out at sea, into a tidal zone.

“This means that from just one fossil horizon, we can reconstruct a complex ecological system, with a diverse array of marine reptiles like ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and placodonts in the water, and dinosaurs on land.

Artist’s depiction of a British Archipelago during the Triassic
Image Credit: Gabriel Ugueto
Artist’s depiction of a British Archipelago during the Triassic Image Credit: Gabriel Ugueto

“I had visited the coast at Penarth all my life, growing up in Cardiff, but never noticed the fossils. Then, the more I read, the more amazing it became. Local geologists had been collecting bones since the 1870s, and most of these are in the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff.”

Cindy Howells, Curator of Palaeontology at the National Museum of Wales, adds: “The collections from Lavernock go all the way back to the 19th century, with many sections of the bone bed being collected over the years. The presence of dinosaur fossils at the site ensure that it remains one of the most significant localities for palaeontology in Wales.”

Two discoveries made by the team while conducting fieldwork at Lavernock were the fossilized remains of a placodont osteoderm, and a single coelacanth gular bone. Supervisor Dr Chris Duffin said: “The remains of coelacanths and placodonts are relatively rare in the UK, which makes these finds even more remarkable. These two fossils alone help build a broader picture of what the Rhaetian in the UK would have looked like.”

Professor Michael Benton from Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences, another project supervisor, adds, “The volume of dinosaur remains found at Lavernock is extremely exciting, and is a chance to study a complex, and often mysterious period in their evolutionary history. We have identified the remains of a large Plateosaurus like animal, along with several bones which likely belonged to a predatory theropod.”

A significant section of the paper is dedicated to the abundant microfossils found at the site, which include fish teeth, scales, and bone fragments. By examining thousands of specimens, the team was able to identify the key species in the shallow seas and work out the relative importance of each.

University of Bristol

Doi: 10.1016/j.pgeola.2024.05.001.

Related Articles

Part of The ‘Missing Link’ in Human Migration may have been Found in Kaldar Cave

3 April 2021

3 April 2021

Kaldar cave is an important archaeological site that provides evidence for the transition from the Middle and Upper Paleolithic Ages...

Archaeologists Uncover 4,800-Year-Old Bronze Age Tombs in Başur Höyük, Türkiye, Where Teenage Girls Were Ritually Sacrificed

30 March 2025

30 March 2025

As the first civilizations began to emerge in Mesopotamia and Anatolia, significant transformations in social structure, economy, and culture took...

Collectors In The Prehistoric World Recycled Old Stone Tools To Preserve The Memory Of Their Ancestors

16 March 2022

16 March 2022

A first-of-its-kind study at Tel Aviv University asks what drove prehistoric humans to collect and recycle flint tools that had...

Roman Bath Complex Found under Spain’s Caños de Meca beach

22 May 2021

22 May 2021

A well-preserved ancient Roman bath complex emerged from the sand of a beach in the Andalusian region of southwestern Spain....

Archaeologists may have found the Sanctuary of Samian Poseidon described in ancient texts

11 October 2022

11 October 2022

During excavations in the foothills at the ancient acropolis of Samicum in Greece, archaeologists may have found the sanctuary of...

Seven Roman altars multicolored in the Great Northern Museum

12 November 2021

12 November 2021

We know that the ancient world is now very colorful. But these colors weren’t just limited to robes and other...

New evidence pushes the origins of the Great Wall back by 300 years

19 February 2025

19 February 2025

Recently discovered evidence from the Changqing district of Jinan, located in East China’s Shandong Province, reveals that the origins of...

Magical Roman Phallus Wind Chime Unearthed in Serbia

15 November 2023

15 November 2023

Archaeologists have unearthed a Roman phallus wind chime known as a tintinnabulum, during excavations at the ancient city of Viminacium...

Researchers discovered clay tablets with ancient cuneiform writing, a game board, and large structural remains in Kurd Qaburstan

16 January 2025

16 January 2025

Tiffany Earley-Spadoni, associate professor of history at the University of Central Florida (UCF), and a researchers team have made important...

A woman was buried in a canoe on her way to the ‘destination of souls’ 800 years ago

25 August 2022

25 August 2022

According to new research, Up to 800 years ago, mourners buried a young woman in a ceremonial canoe to represent...

Archaeological settlements dating back 3000 years found in Qurayat, Oman

2 October 2022

2 October 2022

Archaeological research in Oman’s Qurayat Province has revealed numerous archaeological and historical settlements, some dating back more than 3,000 years...

Roman era total of 46 early settler burials discovered in Germany

17 September 2023

17 September 2023

Students from Goethe University Frankfurt, in collaboration with the Hesse archeology department at the Darmstadt branch of the State Monument...

7,000-Year-Old Canoes Reveal Early Development of Nautical Technology in Mediterranean

21 March 2024

21 March 2024

The discovery of five “technologically sophisticated” canoes in Italy has revealed that  Neolithic people were navigating the Mediterranean more than...

In western Turkey, inscriptions and 2,500-year-old sculptures were found

11 July 2021

11 July 2021

Two 2,500-year-old marble statues and an inscription have been found during excavations at the ancient city of Euromos, in Turkey’s...

Gravitational Wave Researchers Shed New Light on the Mystery of the 2,000-Year-Old Computer Antikythera Mechanism

28 June 2024

28 June 2024

Astronomers from the University of Glasgow who specialize in studying tiny ripples in space-time have shed new light on the...