Jurassic World

Picture the coast of Southern England 180 million years in the middle of the Jurassic era and you would see tropical shallow seas teeming with life. 

Crustaceans, fish, marine reptiles and ammonites filled the waters. The clays, sandstone and limestone that form the wonderful cliffs of West Dorset were formed as sediment in these seas. 

How time has changed the landscape. The seas are no longer tropical and although still teeming with life,  marine reptiles hunt no longer in the waters off the Dorset coast. 

Nowadays the coastline between Lyme Regis and Charmouth reveals the secrets of this long ago time. The remnants of the creatures that once swam in the warm oceans can be found strewn over the beaches, imprinted into the rocks and embedded into the cliffs. 

The ‘dink-dink’ of the fossil hammers against stone rings out across the shoreline as keen fossil hunters of all ages descend on the sands attempting to find that perfect specimen, enabling the lucky finder to take home a piece of prehistory. 

Some of the best ammonite finds can be located very easily without the need of smashing rocks with hammers. Walking along the beach on a falling tide will reward the observant individual a number of lovely pyritised ammonite fossils. These occur as during the fossilisation process the organic material is replaced with iron disulfide better known as ‘fool’s gold’. 

But the ultimate fossil will only be found once in a while and most likely by a local or professional fossil hunter walking the beach after a particularly stormy sea or following a collapse of the cliffs themselves. It is then that the really prized fossils reveal themselves. Those of the plesiosaurs, ichthyosaurs and pterosaurs. 

Mary Anning born in 1799 in Lyme Regis was the first to recognise the significance of these fossil finds. Although she became a recognised expert and was regularly consulted her gender prevented her from being able to join the Geological Society of London and as a result her finds and significant scientific contributions were not fully credited. It was not until 2010 that the Royal Society included her in the list of ten most influential women in the history of science.  Recently she was also shortlisted as the face on the new £50 note. 

The beauty and history of this Jurassic Coast is simply awe inspiring and if you haven’t yet paid a visit then get yourself here. When you find and hold that fossil in your hand with the knowledge that you are the only human to have done so with the sea and the coastline as a backdrop there is simply no where else you would want to be.