in the footsteps of dinosaur researchers

To Charmouth (United Kingdom), at the foot of majestic cliffs, they did not come to bathe. These budding explorers dig, search, inspect stones. They are looking for fossils, on the aptly named Jurassic coast, in the south of the country. These forms, these imprints, testify to a past of more than 200 million years. “It’s incredible, it’s part of our history. Usually, we see them in the windows, this is mine, I found it”says a young woman.

Countless fossils have been found along this coastline, thanks to tides and storms, which sweep away the cliffs and reveal the remains. The UK is a land of dinosaurs. A new species is discovered approximately every two weeks. Some are more important than others, notably on the Isle of Wight, where a novel spinosaur has been found. “We would like to find more, but also revisit the bones that we have,” says Chris Barker, doctoral student in paleontology at the University of Southampton.