Fossil Finder Database 2022
This is a very rare dinosaur bone from the Portland Limestone. It was obviously recovered from the masonary works after the primary saw had cut the block and uncovered the bone. The museum label says ‘megalosaur toe bone’, but we think the bone is too large to be a megalosaur. Compare it to the toe…
This close-up picture shows part of the posterior rib cage of an ichthyosaur (full specimen shown below it). Beneath the ribs you can see a rough tube of material. This substance is known as cololite ( the name for fossil poo when still inside the animal ) and traces out the shape of part of the…
These concretions formed from a calcium-rich clay that hardened into the round limestone nodule. Later, the rock shrank, creating cracks that were then filled with water in which calcite crystal formed. They are almost certainly from the Kimmeridge Clay and could have been collected along the Portland Harbour Shore.
The spines of sea urchins are often found in the Blue Lias, but the shell (or test), is normally broken apart and scattered by water currents. This spine is relatively large.
Oldest fossil life Stromatolites are among the oldest fossils found on earth today, and remain little changed. A stromatolite, meaning ‘layered rock’, is a solid structure created by shallow marine algae that secrete layers of calcium carbonate. You can see growth patterns in this specimen.
This belemnite species is one of four named after archangels by the renowned collector, W.D.Lang.
Spare rib This is a large and spectacular dinosaur rib – so just imagine what the whole dinosaur would look like! Unfortunately, finding a whole dinosaur is very unlikely as this bone is set in a rock that formed in a shallow, warm sea. Any large animal dying or being washed into that sea is…
This is a section of a very distinctive type of fish, Lepidotes. It has large, rectangular scales that become diamond-shaped towards the tail. These fish are found throughout the Jurassic-aged rocks of Dorset.
Look familiar? The rocks from Portland date back before the age of flowering plants. Most of the trees that we are familiar with today – the oak, ash, beech or hazel for instance – are flowering plants. The trees around in the Jurassic period were dominated by conifers. Look very closely at this extraordinarily well-preserved…