A Walk Among Giants

In the heart of Britain’s Oxfordshire, researchers recently uncovered an extraordinary “dinosaur highway” filled with nearly 200 footprints dating back 166 million years to the Middle Jurassic Period.

The discovery offers an unparalleled glimpse into the lives of some of the largest dinosaurs to ever roam the Earth.

Quarry worker Gary Johnson came across the highway last year after noticing “unusual bumps” in the clay at Dewars Farm Quarry, NPR reported.

His observation led to a week-long excavation involving more than 100 researchers and volunteers from the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham.

They uncovered five extensive trackways: Four belonging to Cetiosaurus, a colossal, long-necked herbivore reaching up to 60 feet in length, while one was left by Megalosaurus, a 30-foot-long carnivorous predator famous for its sharp, three-toed prints.

“These footprints offer an extraordinary window into the lives of dinosaurs, revealing details about their movements, interactions, and the tropical environment they inhabited,” said Kirsty Edgar from the University of Birmingham in a press release.

Edgar and her colleagues used drone photography and 3D modeling to capture more than 20,000 images and preserve the site in stunning detail. The longest trackway measured nearly 500 feet and revealed intricate mud deformations created as dinosaurs traversed through a lagoonal landscape resembling today’s Florida Keys, according to CNN.

The team also spotted areas where Megalosaurus and sauropod tracks intersected, which raised questions about possible predator-prey interactions or overlapping habitats.

“Scientists have known about and been studying Megalosaurus for longer than any other dinosaur on Earth, yet these discoveries prove there is still new evidence out there, waiting to be found,” Emma Nicholls of the Oxford Museum of Natural History said in the press release.

The new findings build on a 1997 discovery in the same area but go much further thanks to modern technology. While earlier trackways lacked detailed imaging, these new prints enable scientists to analyze dinosaur locomotion and social behaviors with unprecedented accuracy.