A bony old lady called Mary
Fossil hunting on the Dorset Coast
In the year 2000 on the Charmouth section of the Dorset coast, which is world famous for its geology and fossils, Tony Gill discovered some fossilised remains of ??Mary??. The huge remains are from a 180 million year old Ichthyosaur. The rocks that are exposed in the cliffs in this area are marine sediments from the Jurassic and Cretaceous age. Fossils of marine creatures, like Mary, are therefore the most common types of fossil found.
Where to go
The Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre in Dorset is free to visit and it has interactive computers, hands on displays and lots of information on fossils, fossil hunting and the local coastal and marine wildlife, there are also many walks and events run by the centre. Tony Gill has a large selection of fossils on display in a building below the centre. You can also hire fossiling hammers from him to aid your hunting and if you are lucky enough to find a good sample, he can prepare it for you.
Ammonite-astic!
A short way west along the coast from Charmouth is Monmouth Beach near Lyme Regis harbour. This is a great place to see huge ammonite fossils that are just lying around about halfway down the beach. They are far too large to extract and attempts to do so may damage them. The best thing to do here is to take a camera and collect the specimens on film.
Pictures courtesy of The Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre and Tony Gill
Submitted by: Catherine Thomas, 13 August 2003
