Ancient Giants Unearthed in Oxfordshire
In a remarkable geological discovery, a 220-metre trail of sauropod footprints has been unearthed at Dewars Farm Quarry near Bicester, Oxfordshire. The footprints, some nearly a metre long, belong to a family of long-necked, herbivorous dinosaurs and offer a vivid window into life around 166 million years ago during the Middle Jurassic period. The site was uncovered during limestone removal work and is now drawing attention from paleontologists and the public alike.
The Culprit: Cetiosaurus
Researchers believe the trackway was made by a Cetiosaurus, a sauropod that could reach about 16 metres in length and weigh up to ten tonnes. Cetiosaurus roamed the landscapes of what is now Britain and France roughly between 171 and 165 million years ago. The discovery at Dewars Farm Quarry adds to a growing picture of how these colossal creatures moved across ancient terrains and interacted with their environment.
Scale and Size
Measuring nearly a metre per print, the cues from the trackways allow scientists to estimate the animal’s height and body proportions. “The hip height comes out at about four metres from the footprint size, which suggests a total length of roughly 15 to 16 metres from head to tail,” explains Dr. Duncan Murdock of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. “Weight could have reached around ten tonnes.” These estimates highlight how Cetiosaurus dwarfed most modern land animals and offers a tangible sense of the sheer scale of Jurassic Britain.
What the Tracks Tell Us About Movement
The series of footprints provides rare insight into how these ancient giants moved. By analyzing spacing, stride length, and trackway patterns, researchers can infer walking speeds and behaviors. The Oxfordshire find stands out because it features multiple, well-preserved trackways—four were uncovered this summer, with hundreds of individual footprints along the surface. The pace and regularity captured in the prints help paleontologists model how often Cetiosaurus rested, how it shifted weight, and how quickly it could move while foraging or interacting with rivals.
Meat-Eating Clues and Rarer Prints
Among the sauropod tracks are rarer three-toed prints attributed to Megalosaurs, meat-eating theropods of the time. While the majority of prints show the expansive fore-aft structure of sauropod traversal, the presence of predator tracks hints at a dynamic ecosystem where giant herbivores and carnivores shared the landscape and left a layered fossil record for scientists to decode.
A Site of Global Significance
Although dinosaur footprints have been found worldwide, including Valentia in Ireland, the Oxfordshire trackway stands out for its scale and preservation. The breadth of footprints across a long, continuous surface provides an unusually complete snapshot of a Jurassic-day ecosystem. Kirsty Edgar, a palaeontologist from the University of Birmingham, describes the find as a rare opportunity to imagine life among some of the largest animals ever to walk the Earth and to glimpse into their daily routines.
What Comes Next for the Research
With the surface now more fully exposed, researchers will continue to map the trackways, analyze print morphology, and compare them with other Jurassic sites. Ongoing collaboration between the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the University of Birmingham aims to refine our understanding of Cetiosaurus anatomy, movement, and habitat, while also contributing to broader knowledge of Jurassic ecosystems in what is now Britain and Europe.
Public Fascination and Scientific Insight
The Dewars Farm Quarry finds blend public interest with serious scientific potential. As teams piece together the story of these ancient giants, they offer a vivid reminder of the dynamic histories hidden beneath modern landscapes and the ongoing quest to understand how dinosaurs lived, moved, and interacted with their world.
