“True Welsh dragons” emerge from bone fossil bed in Wales
It was once thought that Wales was devoid of dinosaur remains. A major fossil finding in Wales now shows that "dragon" dinosaurs and other prehistoric life that once roamed these lands.
![The Welsh dragon is a fierce symbol for Wales. New fossil evidence shows "dragon-like" dinosaurs did in fact once roam the lands that are now known as Wales. The Welsh dragon is a fierce symbol for Wales. New fossil evidence shows "dragon-like" dinosaurs did in fact once roam the lands that are now known as Wales.](https://services.meteored.com/img/article/true-welsh-dragons-emerge-from-bone-fossil-bed-in-wales-1717420412200_1024.jpeg)
With the fierce dragon as the proud emblem of Wales, it may have seemed ironic that dinosaurs were not previously found in this part of the UK. It was not till recently that several dinosaurs have been found in Wales, but usually in poor preservation, and with details little understood about the setting they lived in millions of years ago.
Perhaps the most immediately striking finding in South Wales recently was a dinosaur footprint found in Triassic rocks in South Wales by a child three years ago.
A large fossil discovery has helped shed light on the history of dinosaurs in Wales. Until recently, the land of the dragon didnt have any dinosaurs. However,
— James Parkin (@JamesParkin2010) May 31, 2024
Source: https://t.co/sbgmjXtcSC https://t.co/309ktHX4Rj
The University of Bristol heralds one of the most specialised palaeontology departments in the UK, where recently, an academic team there published important details about dinosaurs reminiscent of dragons.
They published some important palaeontological observations in the journal Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association. Their paper describes how early Welsh dinosaurs lived in a tropical lowland next to the sea over 200 million years ago.
Fossil bone bed: Treasure trove of Welsh prehistoric life
Around Lavernock Point, close to Cardiff, cliffs of dark shales and limestones show traces of once shallow seas. Along the coast there is a "bone bed" with litters of bones, fish remains, sharks, and marine reptiles waiting to be found.
There is even an abundance of shark teeth such as the shark Lissodus, the team revealed. They also uncovered, with excitement, the bones of ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and dinosaurs.
When #Pride2024 and #DinosaurDay coincide, reposting this is obligatory pic.twitter.com/JSegzrNg69
— DragonsofWales ?????? (@DragonsofWales) June 1, 2024
“The dinosaur bones are unusual, and Lavernock may have yielded more such bones than any other British Rhaetian bone bed,” the authors wrote in their abstract.
This “bone bed” reveals a tropical archipelago, washed up as a kind of storm deposit. Local geologists collected bones from there since the late 1800s, according to Cindy Howells, Curator of Plaeontology at the National Museum of Wales: “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 ensures that it remains one of the most significant localities for palaeontology in Wales.”
![View of the cliff face at Lavernock Point from the east end of the beach, showing the red mudstones of the Williton Member (Mercia Mudstone Formation) transitioning upwards into the interbedded shales of the Westbury Formation. View of the cliff face at Lavernock Point from the east end of the beach, showing the red mudstones of the Williton Member (Mercia Mudstone Formation) transitioning upwards into the interbedded shales of the Westbury Formation.](https://services.meteored.com/img/article/true-welsh-dragons-emerge-from-bone-fossil-bed-in-wales-1717422287856_1024.jpg)
This part of Wales is unique to British palaeontology
Prof. Michael Benton from University of Bristol, who helped supervise the project, mentioned that the volume of dinosaur remains found at Lavernock is unique. It reveals more about a mysterious part of prehistory and about creatures similar to Plateosaurus and a therapod.
Where dinosaurs were once thought to be absent, Wales has hidden a “treasure trove” of fossils in the Penarth area near Lavernock, where the Triassic dinosaurs are said by the co-authors to be more widely documented than anywhere else in the UK.
Reference:
Microvertebrates from the basal Rhaetian Bone Bed (Late Triassic) at Lavernock, South Wales. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association. DOI: 10.1016/j.pgeola.2024.05.001.