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A Filey StoryA RARE FOSSIL FIND OF A PLESIOSAUR - FILEY BAY - OCTOBER 2002.The remains had been disturbed by a landslip and were discovered in 2001 by an amateur fossil collector, Nigel Armstrong, when looking for fossils at the bottom of the cliff. He came across a vertebra in a landslip and was able to follow a further trail of bones up the cliff face until he came to the main skeleton, making it a more or less complete specimen. He soon realised the significance of his find and alerted the local museums. Experts visited the site and soon labelled the find a missing link in their knowledge of the plesiosaurs. It is considered, from the shape of the neck vertebrae, that the creature is an elasmosaur, one of several types of long-necked plesiosaur, and it comes from a time that little is known of its evolution. Much is known about those that were in existence about 175 million years ago but the next known representaives of the family were in existence about 100 million years ago. The new specimen is from the lower beds of the Speeton clay about 146 million years old. The signifiant importance of the Filey Bay find is that it dates the creature in the middle of those missing years. A team was assembled and moved nine tons of clay to reach the skeleton. It was encased in orange clay and appeared to be about 75% intact. After the two week dig, in October 2002, the main skeleton was extracted from the Speeton cliffs in one huge block, weighing around one and half tons, covered in hessian and plaster of paris, and lowered down the cliff face with ropes, together with a number of smaller blocks containing the neck and other elements which lay outside the main skeleton. The blocks of clay were taken to the Scarborough Museums' and Gallery store, where the bones will be extracted, cleaned, and assembled for display in a town's museum. The work is taking longer than first forecast and the full specimen will not be on display until the Rotunda Museum reopens, the latest forecast September 2007, as a Museum of Geology. It will also be interesting to see what other fossils are found in the blocks of clay. I must say I am puzzled as to why it took so long to be excavated after its initial discovery in 2001, and can only believe that it was only by good fortune that a further landslip did not occur to damage, or cover up again, the skeleton. What is a Plesiosaur? Plesiosaurs were aquatic reptiles, and were an important part of the marine ecology from the end of the Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous period, their remains have been found on every continent. They were around 15 feet (4.5m) long, had a long flexible neck, a broad body with four large diamond-shaped flippers and a relatively short tail. The jaws had long sharp teeth. There are two kinds of plesiosaur, one small-headed, long-necked, and the other large-headed and short-necked. The large-headed and short-necked type is called the pliosaurs. The small headed and long-necked type has three kinds - the cryptoclidids, the elasmosaurs, and the plesiosaurids. Of these, the plesiosaurids are the earliest, and had fairly long necks - up to 32 vertebrae: the elasmosaurs, had very long necks - up to 72 vertabrae, and the cryptoclidids had shorter but still long necks. Other Plesiosaurs found on the Yorkshire Coast The remains of plesiosaurs that lived around 200 million years ago have been found in an area around Whitby, and the local museum has on display part-complete specimens found in the Alum Quary area of Kettleness, and in the Saltwick Cliff area of Whitby. Glossary Fossil a remnant, impression, or trace of an animal or plant of a past geologic age that has been preserved in the earth's crust. Mesozoic Period lasted from around 245 to 66.4million years ago, and included the:- Triassic Period around 245 to 208 million years ago. Jurassic Period around 208 to 144 million years ago. Cretacious Period around 144 to 66,4 million years ago. Early Cretacious period around 144 to 97.5 million years ago. Late Cretacious period around 97.5 to 66.4 million years ago.
"PLESIOSAURUS brachypterygius"
A copy of an oil painting by Josef Moravec (www.prehistory.com), the copyright of which he owns, and reproduced here with permission.
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