Huge Sauropod Footprints Uncovered in Oxfordshire Quarry
A 220-metre trail left by one of the planet’s largest herbivorous dinosaurs has emerged from a limestone quarry near Bicester, Oxfordshire. The Dewars Farm Quarry project, conducted during ongoing limestone extraction, has revealed hundreds of individual footprints that belonged to massive sauropods — the long-necked, long-tailed, four-legged giants that once roamed this part of Europe.
What was found
The team, a collaboration between the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the University of Birmingham, catalogued a series of trackways showing both sauropod footprints and rarer three-toed prints believed to be from meat-eating Megalosaurs. The longest of the four trackways stretches about 220 metres and comprises nearly a hundred individual prints, each almost a metre in length.
Who Left the Tracks?
Based on the size and shape of the impressions, researchers say the prints likely belonged to Cetiosaurus, a sauropod that could reach around 16 metres in length. When measured in life terms, the animal would have stood roughly four metres at the hip, with a full body length of about 15–16 metres and a weight that could approach ten tonnes. These estimates come from analysing the footprint size and spacing, which also helps paleontologists infer how the animal moved through its environment.
How the Footprints Help Us Understand Dinosaur Behaviour
The discovery offers a rare window into the locomotion of giant dinosaurs. By studying the spacing and depth of the footprints, scientists can infer walking speeds and gait — critical for understanding how Cetiosaurus carried its long neck and tail while navigating the terrain. The Oxfordshire site adds a valuable datapoint to a growing, but still limited, catalogue of dinosaur trackways worldwide, which includes similar finds in places such as Valentia, Ireland.
Scale and Significance of the Site
According to Kirsty Edgar, a palaeontologist from the University of Birmingham, the Oxfordshire find is remarkable not just for its size but for the clarity of the track surface. “It’s so exciting to be able to stand where some of the largest animals that ever lived once walked and imagine what their lives and world looked like,” she said. The persistence of the surface through years of quarry work is allowing researchers to gradually reveal a comprehensive picture of this once-dominant ecosystem.
The People Behind the Discovery
Dr. Duncan Murdock of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History emphasized the ongoing nature of the work: “We’ve been working at this site since 2022 and slowly uncovering more and more of this surface. This summer we excavated four trackways, the longest of which is 220 metres — with nearly a hundred individual footprints, each of which is nearly a metre long itself.” These impressions not only illuminate the size of Cetiosaurus but also provide tangible evidence of how such giants moved through their ancient landscapes.
Future Prospects
As the excavation continues, researchers hope to extract more precise measurements from additional prints and perhaps uncover further species represented at the site. Such discoveries contribute to a broader understanding of Jurassic ecosystems in Britain and Europe, shedding light on the daily lives of long-extinct creatures and the environments they occupied.
