The CollectA Supreme Deluxe Dimorphodon model has been voted by readers of Prehistoric Times magazine the best non-dinosaur prehistoric animal toy of 2017. This prestigious award recognises the efforts of CollectA to bring larger models to the market, the Dimorphodon measures nearly forty centimetres in length and as such, provides an accurate scale model of one of the first pterosaurs to be scientifically described.
The Award Winning CollectA Supreme Deluxe Dimorphodon Figure
The CollectA Dimorphodon model with a movable lower jaw.
Dimorphodon was the first pterosaur fossil from the British Isles to be scientifically described. The first specimen was discovered by the world-famous, amateur fossil hunter Mary Anning. The fossil, which was missing the skull, was found on the Dorset coast in 1828. Prior to the scientific description of Dimorphodon, only two species of pterosaur had been studied, both of which came from the Solnhofen limestone deposits of southern Germany.
When first described, this flying reptile was named Pterodactylus macronyx. Pterodactylus was the first flying reptile genus to be erected. It was later discovered that the Dorset specimens had very different shaped heads compared to those fossils associated with the Pterodactylus genus, a new genus name for the fossil was proposed by the English anatomist Richard Owen (1858).
A Scale Drawing of D. macronyx
A scale drawing of Dimorphodon macronyx. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Long Claws on the Forelimbs
The species name “macronyx” refers to the large claws on the forelimbs. It has been suggested that this flying reptile favoured inland habitats and it lived in woodland, the long claws would have helped it to scramble up trees. The long stiff tail may have been involved in flight stability. The wingspan of D. macronyx was approximately 1.4 metres, about the same size as the wings of today’s Raven (Corvus corax).
The CollectA Supreme Deluxe Dimorphodon Model
The CollectA 2017 catalogue featured the Dimorphodon model on the front cover. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented:
“We are so pleased for all the team at CollectA. It is great to hear that their Deluxe Dimorphodon figure has been awarded this accolade. We look forward to hearing news about what plans the company has for prehistoric animal figures in the future.”
Study Suggests Shift from Lamniform to Carcharhiniform Dominated Shark Populations
The Cretaceous mass extinction event saw the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs on land, but in the seas there was a massive faunal turnover too. For example, many of the marine reptiles became extinct. However, sharks seem to have come through the K-Pg extinction event largely unscathed, but a new study, published in the journal “Current Biology” suggests a subtle change in the diversity of shark species, a change that is reflected in extant shark species today.
Studying Fossil Shark Teeth
The researchers, which include scientists from Uppsala University (Sweden) and the University of New England (Australia), examined hundreds of fossilised shark teeth across the Cretaceous through to the Palaeogene and their study concludes that modern shark biodiversity was triggered by the mass extinction event that took place approximately 66 million years ago.
A Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Marine Faunal Assemblage
A Late Cretaceous sea scene.
Picture credit: Julius Csotonyi
Hell’s Aquarium
The Upper Cretaceous marine deposits of Kansas have provided palaeontologists with an insight into the number of large predators that inhabited the sea during the last few million years of the Mesozoic. There were numerous types of mosasaur, such as Hainosaurus which was as long as Tyrannosaurus rex. In addition, you had enormous marine turtles as well as the elasmosaurids, giant plesiosaurs that measured up to fifteen metres in length. Then you have the fish, brutes like Xiphactinus (zie-fak-tin-us) with a mouth lined with needle-sharp teeth and the sharks, lots of species, some of which were apex predators, such as Squalicorax and Cretoxyrhina.
Hell’s Aquarium – Many Different Types of Predator in Late Cretaceous Seas
Typical Western Interior Seaway marine life.Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Carcharhiniformes and Lamniformes – Two Different Types of Shark
Today, there are two major groups of predatory sharks. Firstly, there are the Carcharhiniformes, otherwise called “ground sharks”, typically represented by species such as the dangerous bull and tiger sharks, as well as the enigmatic hammerhead shark and closer to home, the lesser spotted dogfish (Scyliorhinus canicula) which is resident in British waters. There are around 270 extant species within this clade.
Secondly, there are the Lamniformes, or the “mackerel sharks” which has around fifteen species and includes the great white, mako and another resident of British waters, the Porbeagle shark (Lamna nasus). Back in the Cretaceous, things were very different, the lamniform sharks, in particular, a diverse group of great-white-like sharks, members of the family Anacoracidae, were much more numerous. The fearsome Squalicorax was an anacoracid and therefore along with Cretoxyrhina, members of the Lamniformes clade.
A Model of the Prehistoric Shark Cretoxyrhina
The PNSO Cretoxyrhina shark model is reminiscent of the extant Great White. It is thought that Cretoxyrhina occupied a similar ecological niche in the Late Cretaceous marine ecosystem.
The Cretoxyrhina model (above) is from the PNSO Age of Dinosaurs range.
Lead author of the study, PhD student at Uppsala University, Mohamad Bazzi stated:
“Our study found that the shift from lamniform to carcharhiniform-dominated assemblages may well have been the result of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. Unlike other vertebrates, the cartilaginous skeletons of sharks do not easily fossilise and so our knowledge of these fishes is largely limited to the thousands of isolated teeth they shed throughout their lives. Fortunately, shark teeth can tell us a lot about their biology, including information about diet, which can shed light on the mechanisms behind their extinction and survival.”
Fossil Shark Teeth
A successful fossil hunt. Shark teeth study reveals shift from lamniform to carcharhiniform dominated shark populations. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Cutting-edge Analytical Techniques
The researchers used state-of-the-art analytical techniques to explore the variation of tooth shape in Carcharhiniformes and Lamniformes and measured diversity by calculating the range of morphological variation, also called disparity.
Dr Nicolás Campione, (University of New England), a co-author of the study added:
“Going into this study, we knew that sharks underwent important losses in species richness across the extinction. But to our surprise, we found virtually no change in disparity across this major transition. This suggests to us that species richness and disparity may have been decoupled across this interval.”
A More Complex Picture
Despite this seemingly stable pattern, the study found that extinction and survival patterns were substantially more complex. Morphologically, there were differential responses to extinction between lamniform and carcharhiniform sharks, with evidence for a selective extinction of Lamniformes and a subsequent proliferation of Carcharhiniformes in the immediate aftermath of the extinction.
Student Bazzi explained:
“Carcharhiniforms are the most common shark group today and it would seem that the initial steps towards this dominance started approximately 66 million years ago.”
Although the reasons for the shift in shark species are not that clear, the researchers hypothesise that the extinction of various types of prey such as the marine reptiles and ammonites may have played a significant role. In addition, it is likely that the loss of apex predators (such as Lamniformes and marine reptiles) benefited secondary predator sharks, a role fulfilled by many carcharhiniforms.
Dr. Campione concluded:
“By studying their teeth, we are able to get a glimpse at the lives of sharks and by understanding the mechanisms that have shaped their evolution in the past, perhaps we can provide some insights into how to mitigate further losses in current ecosystems.”
Fossils help us to learn about life in the past and palaeontologists study fossils. Fossils can form in a variety of conditions, but scientists have discovered a new way to mimic key fossilisation processes in the laboratory. What might have taken tens of thousands, or even millions of years can be replicated in around twenty-four hours.
Explaining Taphonomy
Taphonomy is the branch of palaeontology that deals with the fossilisation process. Taphonomy involves studying how organisms become fossilised. Scientists have been able to build up a better picture about how the fossilisation process works. Perhaps, more importantly, this new research paints a picture about what kinds of materials can become fossils, from feathers and scales to tiny molecules like proteins and which materials can’t.
Writing in the journal of the Palaeontological Association “Palaeontology”, the researchers, which include scientists from the Field Museum of Chicago and Bristol University, found a way to improve simulations of the fossilisation process with modern-day animal and plant specimens.
The Scientists Mimicked the Fossilisation Process
A laboratory made fossil of a lizard’s foot.
Picture credit: The Field Museum (Chicago)
Lead author, Evan Saitta, a PhD student at the Field Museum, explained:
“Palaeontologists study fossils. We interpret them to learn about the evolution and biology of extinct animals, but the fossil record yields data that can be hard to interpret. For us to answer our questions, we need to understand how fossils form. The approach we use to simulate fossilisation saves us from having to run a seventy-million-year-long experiment.”
Working Backwards
Palaeontologists can learn about the fossilisation process by finding fossils and then chemically analysing them. However, these researchers worked backwards, finding a way to simulate the fossilisation process and then studying the materials that survived the heat and pressure used to create the fossil in the first place.
Bird feathers, lizard limbs and leaves were put into a hydraulic press to pack them into clay tablets, just a few millimetres in diameter. These tablets were baked in a sealed metal tube inside a laboratory oven heated to over 400 degrees Fahrenheit and at 3,500 psi pressure. After a day, the tablets were examined and they produced specimens that are reminiscent of fossils that take millennia to make.
Student, Evan Saitta stated:
“We kept arguing over who would get to split open the tablets to reveal the specimens. They looked like real fossils, there were dark films of skin and scales, the bones became browned. Even by eye, they looked right.”
At the Start of the Fossilisation Process
Food for a dinosaur? The remains of the Stegosaurus could become fossilised. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
The picture above shows a Saurophaganax and a Stegosaurus corpse model in the CollectA Prehistoric Life model range.
The laboratory-made “fossils” were examined under a scanning electron microscope. The researchers could identify exposed melanosomes, the structures that contain the biomolecule melanin that gives feathers and skin their colour. Less stable materials such as proteins and fatty tissues did not show up in the laboratory specimens, these materials are usually absent from fossils found in the field too.
Evan Saitta added:
“Our experimental method is like a cheat sheet. If we use this to find out what kinds of biomolecules can withstand the pressure and heat of fossilisation, then we know what to look for in real fossils.”
This is not the first attempt to mimic the fossilisation process under artificial conditions, but as one of the authors of the scientific paper explained “I think we are the first ones to get it pretty darn close”.
Previous experimental attempts to cook up fossils in sealed tubes didn’t work because the unstable biomolecules that naturally break down, leak out, and disappear during fossilisation, but in these experiments, these materials stayed trapped. With this new method, the breakdown products remain entombed within the artificial sediment.
The Implications for the Study of Dinosaurs
The researchers are excited by the possibilities that their new experimental method unlocks. Exceptional dinosaur fossils don’t just contain hard materials like bones and teeth, soft tissues can be preserved too. These often carbonaceous films provide important data, so it is important to understand how these materials are preserved.
Learning How to Simulate Fossil Production Can Improve Our Understanding of Taphonomy
This new study can help with interpreting soft tissue preservation in feathered dinosaur fossils.
Picture credit: Li et al
Everything Dinosaur recognises the contribution of a press release from the Field Museum (Chicago) in the compilation of this article.
Our thanks to young dinosaur fan Neve, who after attending one of our family friendly dinosaur and fossil workshops, was inspired to send in to us a drawing of their very own design for a dinosaur. Neve even gave this prehistoric animal a name, this very colourful dinosaur is called “Spikyosaurus”.
A Very Bright, Colourful and Spiky Dinosaur Drawing
A spiky dinosaur. A wonderful and imaginative dinosaur drawing. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
A “Spikysaurus” and Armoured Dinosaurs
Palaeontologists are aware that there were lots of armoured dinosaurs. The first armoured dinosaurs evolved in the Early Jurassic. These plant-eaters were distinguished by the presence of bony scales on their backs and flanks. These dinosaurs evolved from the ornithischian line (bird-hipped dinosaurs). Armour probably evolved in herbivorous dinosaurs to provide protection against the rapidly evolving carnivorous dinosaurs. The last of the armoured dinosaurs died out at the very end of the Cretaceous.
Our skeleton is very special, the evolution of a rigid internal skeleton (bones), was an extremely significant development in the history of life on Earth. However, how hard, internal skeletons evolved has been the subject of much debate amongst palaeontologists. However, thanks to research undertaken by scientists at Manchester and Bristol Universities in collaboration with the technicians at a synchrotron light source based in Switzerland, we might have a better understanding of how we came to be.
The Origins of Our Skeleton
All living vertebrates have skeletons built from four different tissue types: bone and cartilage (the main tissues that human skeletons are made from), and dentine and enamel (the tissues from which our teeth are constructed). These tissues are unique because they become mineralised as they develop, giving the skeleton strength and rigidity.
Primitive fish were the first to develop a mineralised skeleton and one group of early fishes, the heterostracans, has attracted a lot of interest from scientists as they try to work out the evolutionary processes that took place. The heterostracans, were a group of heavily armoured, jawless fishes that evolved during the Early Silurian. These fish, which are mostly associated with marine and estuarine deposits, had two plates, one on the top of the body and one underneath, they served to help protect the animal from attack and might have had a secondary function to help keep the body stiffened. These fish also had large scales on their bodies too.
A “Swimming Table Tennis Paddle” – A Life Restoration of Drepanaspis – An Early Devonian Heterostracan
A life reconstruction of Drepanaspis a typical heterostracan fish.
The Primitive Bone-like Tissue Aspidin
Earlier research had identified that the surface scales and broad plates of these primitive fishes had enamel-like tops over a core of dentine, essentially the same material that forms our teeth. Supporting these structures was a layer of sponge-like material called aspidin. Aspidin is bone in its earliest mineralised form. It is thought that the very first basal, internal skeleton provided an anchor to support the armour that was on the outside of the body. In this new study, the scientists used synchrotron X-ray tomographic microscopy to reveal the nature of aspidin.
Lead author of the paper, published in the journal “Nature Ecology & Evolution”, Dr Joseph Keating (Manchester University), explained:
“Heterostracan skeletons are made of a really strange tissue called “aspidin”. It is crisscrossed by tiny tubes and does not closely resemble any of the tissues found in vertebrates today. For 160 years, scientists have wondered if aspidin is a transitional stage in the evolution of mineralised tissues.”
Errivaspis – A Member of the Heterostraci from the Early Devonian
Errivaspis – anterior portion of fossil, from the Early Devonian.
Picture credit: Keating et al
Ruling Out Other Theories
Scientists had been aware of the spongy nature of aspidin. However, they were unable to work out what might have filled the pores and spaces in the material, using traditional methods of study. Knowing what filled these unmineralised spaces would provide the information needed to help demonstrate the role that aspidin played in the evolution of back-boned animals.
Four theories regarding what filled these spaces had been put forward:
The spaces housed cells, like the osteoblasts and osteocytes that are found in living bones.
The spaces were filled with fibres made from proteins such as collagen.
The spaces were filled with dentine.
The spaces were filled with a mixture of dentine and bone.
The team showed that these “gaps” in the aspidin represented the location of bundles of collagen (2). These “gaps” housed the same sort of protein that is found in our skin and bones (in fact collagen is the most abundant type of protein found in our bodies).
Aspidin is the Earliest Evidence of Bone in the Fossil Record
These findings enabled Dr Keating to rule out all but one theory for the tissue’s identity, proving that aspidin is the earliest evidence of bone in the fossil record.
Co-author of the study, Professor Phil Donoghue (University of Bristol), who has done much to reveal the true anatomical nature of the heterostracans, stated:
“These findings change our view on the evolution of the skeleton. Aspidin was once thought to be the precursor of vertebrate mineralised tissues. We show that it is, in fact, a type of bone, and that all these tissues must have evolved millions of years earlier.”
The team suggest that the collagen bundles form a scaffold which permits minerals to be deposited. Aspidin is acellular dermal bone, so one question is answered but it gives rise to a host of others. For example, if all the skeletal tissue types associated with vertebrates were present in the heterostracans, then these structures and materials must have evolved earlier than expected.
The scientific paper: “The Nature of Aspidin and the Evolutionary Origin of Bone” by J. Keating, C. Marquart and P. Donoghue published in Nature Ecology & Evolution.
Last weekend, Everything Dinosaur team members visited The Beacon Museum in Whitehaven, Cumbria to take part in “Dino Fest”, a series of events that had been organised by the enthusiastic museum staff to celebrate all things dinosaur. This family-friendly museum has a temporary exhibition entitled “Brick Dinos”, it is a great attraction to help inspire little minds over the summer.
Everything Dinosaur at “Dino Fest”
Child’s Play – A Masiakasaurus Made from Bricks
“Brick Dinos” a life-size replica of the theropod Masiakasaurus. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
On the first floor of The Beacon Museum, we spotted a life-size Masiakasaurus replica. Masiakasaurus was a predator, but what it ate is a bit of a mystery. Its fossils come from northern Madagascar and it roamed the island (Madagascar split from eastern Africa during the Cretaceous), around 70 million years ago. This animal’s teeth are unique amongst all known dinosaurs. The teeth at the front of the jaws point forwards . The teeth in the anterior portion of the lower jaw stick out almost horizontally. These teeth are conical and very pointy. It has been suggested that this dinosaur specialised in catching and eating fish, whilst some palaeontologists have proposed that it was an insectivore.
Dinosaur and Fossil Workshops
Everything Dinosaur was invited to deliver a special workshop for the Quantum Leap club members on the Friday afternoon and over the weekend, we provided two 2-hour workshops and a series of fossil hunting events. We invited visitors to have a go at casting their own museum quality fossil replicas. We were most impressed with the results with some excellent casts of dinosaur bones, teeth and claws produced by the eager, young prehistoric animal fans.
A Collection of Fossil Casts
Some of the completed fossil casts produced by visitors to The Beacon Museum (Whitehaven), who participated in Everything Dinosaur’s workshops.Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Dinosaur Fossil Casting
Participants had the opportunity to cast an Edmontosaurus toe bone, a tooth from a tyrannosaurid (Daspletosaurus), as well as a Velociraptor toe claw and a hand claw from an Ornithomimus. The Megalodon teeth we brought with us to cast, also proved popular. To conclude our sessions, we invited guests to try to find their own fossils. We have collected quite a lot of small fossils on our various adventures and team members were happy to help the young dinosaur fans spot sharks teeth, brachiopods, ammonites, turtle shell, crocodile scutes and small pieces of fossilised bone in our fossil trays.
Everything Dinosaur Reaches 5,000 “Likes” on Facebook
Everything Dinosaur has reached the landmark of achieving 5,000 “likes” on the company’s Facebook page. The Facebook page (@EverythingDinosaur), provides information on new model releases, updates on fossil discoveries and publishes lots of pictures of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. It was back in June 2015, that the Facebook page passed 2,000 “likes”, then on November 4th 2017, we published a press release about our 4,000th “like” and now, nine months later we have reached the milestone of 5,000 Facebook “likes”.
5,000 “Likes” for Everything Dinosaur
5,000 Facebook “Likes” for Everything Dinosaur
Everything Dinosaur reaches the milestone of 5,000 likes on Facebook.Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented:
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our customers, dinosaur enthusiasts and collectors of prehistoric animal figures who have taken the trouble to visit our Facebook page and to give Everything Dinosaur’s page a “like”. We really do appreciate this and, every single one of our “likes” is genuine. All have come from organic growth and not a single “like” has come from any form of paid for promotion or advertising. We all feel very humble and honoured.”
Visit Everything Dinosaur on Facebook
The “like” button on the Facebook social media platform enables users to easily interact with Everything Dinosaur team members. The page provides status updates, photos, links and comments. Gaining genuine and legitimate “likes” on Facebook gives an organisation credibility and provides reassurance to other Facebook visitors. This helps to build up a community around the company or brand and helps to reinforce customer loyalty.
Crocodylians are a very ancient group of reptiles, sometimes these animals are referred to as living dinosaurs, that’s a mistake, they may be archosaurs, the same as the Dinosauria, but they represent a different branch of the “ruling reptiles” clade. However, just as with the dinosaurs, the ancient lineage of the crocodylians is full of intriguing taxonomic mysteries. Back in 2017, Everything Dinosaur reported upon a new scientific paper that fundamentally re-wrote the dinosaur family tree, in recent weeks, a new scientific study has thrown light on the evolution of the gharials, specialist fish-eating crocodylians.
The Evolution of Gharials
This new research into the gharials may not result in such a seismic shift that we saw with the 2017 dinosaur family tree, but it does help to explain an inconsistency that has puzzled palaeontologists for decades.
A Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus)
The skull of a gharial from the Grant Museum of Zoology (London). Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
The Thoracosaur Mystery
Late Cretaceous, long-snouted, fish-eating crocodiles known as thoracosaurs had been thought to be closely related to modern-day gharials (Gavialis lineage). However, fossils of these crocodylians are found in Upper Cretaceous/Lower Palaeocene strata, but analysis of the genome of the modern Indian gharial suggests that these crocodiles only evolved some forty million years ago. In a new study, led by Flinders University (South Australia), it is concluded that the Thoracosaurus is not closely related to the Gavialidae, it just happens to look very similar and to share the same adaptations for life as a piscivore.
A Life Reconstruction of the Late Cretaceous Crocodylian Thoracosaurus
A life reconstruction of the fish-eating Thoracosaurus.
Picture credit: Jacob Baardse
The Four-metre-long Thoracosaurus
Two species of Thoracosaurus have been described, one from North America with a second species known from Europe. This freshwater crocodile could have grown to a length of four metres or more. Writing in the journal “Proceedings of the Royal Society Biology”, a team of international scientists propose that the uncanny resemblance between the modern gharial and the ancient Thoracosaurus is due to convergent evolution, the process whereby two unrelated organisms end up looking similar as they adapt to similar environments and ecological niches.
The study shows that the prehistoric thoracosaurs, that were around at the same time as the last of the dinosaurs, were not closely related to modern gharials at all. They represent a separate and distinct group of reptiles that adopted a similar fish-eating habit, evolving long, narrow jaws with needle-like teeth, anatomical traits they share with gharials. Therefore, as borne out by the DNA of modern-day gharials, members of the Gavialidae are relatively newcomers when it comes to crocodylian evolutionary history. Gharials did not exist in the Mesozoic.
The Fossilised Skull and Upper Jaw of Thoracosaurus (Cast)
A cast of the fossilised skull and upper jaw of Thoracosaurus.
Picture credit: Michael Lee (Flinders University and South Australia Museum
Confusion Over the Indian Gharial and the False Gharial
The False gharial of south-east Asia (Tomistoma schlegelii), has a similar long snout to the Indian gharial, however, as it is broader at the base it was thought that this species was not closely related to the true gharial. However, genomic studies have revealed that it is the sister taxon and consequently, very closely related to Gavialis gangeticus. Many biologists now classify this species as a member of the Gavialidae.
Lead author of the study, Professor Michael Lee (Flinders University), commented:
“The DNA of living gharials indicates they are a young group, which evolved well after the dinosaurs, but then why are there gharial-like fossils older than T. rex? Either the DNA evidence is wrong, or we’ve misinterpreted these ancient thoracosaurs. Our work suggests we have got the fossils wrong, after being misled by convergent evolution.”
The scientific paper: “Tip Dating and Homoplasy: Reconciling the Shallow Molecular Divergences of Modern Gharials with their Long Fossil Record” by MSY Lee and AM Yates and published in Proceedings: Biological Sciences:
Archaeologists in Race Against Time to Save Ancient Handprints
A team of archaeologists are in a race against time to save ancient handprints on the Island of Rousay. The archaeologists are battling against the tide to complete the documentation and excavation of the remains of a Pictish copper smith’s workshop located on an Iron Age settlement on Rousay. The site, an important archaeological focus on the Orkney Islands, has revealed a sooty imprint of what is believed to be the smith’s hands and knees. The archaeologists could have uncovered evidence of a person’s everyday activity, which could potentially be 1500 years old.
Ancient Handprints
The Stone Preserves Evidence of Human Activity (Carbon Smudges)
Black smudges of a person’s hand can be made out on the stone.
Picture credit: Bradford University
Dr Stephen Dockrill, Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Bradford commented:
“Analysis of crucible fragments and the floor deposits demonstrated that a copper smith worked in the building. The analysis of the floor enables us to say with confidence where the smith worked, next to a hearth and two stone anvils. The biggest surprise came when we lifted the larger stone anvil and cleaned it; we could see carbon imprints of the smith’s knees and hands.”
An Amazing and Extremely Exciting Scottish Discovery
Senior Lecturer in Archaeology, Dr Julie Bond (University of Bradford), outlined the significance of this chance discovery stating:
“This is an extremely exciting find and we are doing all we can to gather as much information on the site before it is destroyed by the sea. A handprint is so personal and individual that you can almost feel the presence of the copper smith and imagine what it must have been like working in there all those years ago.”
The dig site consists of the remains of a small, cellular building dating to a period between the 6th and 9th Century AD. It was semi-subterranean. The building was entered via steps and a curved corridor, which would have minimised the amount of light entering the smithy, permitting the smith to assess the temperature of the hot metal based on its colouration in the fire. A door would have separated the workshop from the corridor.
Many of the stone fittings, the pivot stone, door jamb and bar hole, for example, remained intact. The centre was dominated by the hearth, with a set upright stone on the doorward side protecting the hearth fire from drafts. Scientific analysis at Bradford University should reveal what was on the smith’s hands to produce the prints and explore the reasons for their remarkable preservation.
Everything Dinosaur team members might be well-versed in mapping and recording trace fossils, but this insight into the life and daily work of a person on the Island of Rousay is quite remarkable. A spokesperson for Everything Dinosaur commented:
“Let’s hope that the archaeologists can win the race against the tide and the elements and preserve this amazing discovery for the benefit of science.”
The Remains of the Pictish Workshop
The Pictish workshop dig site on the Island of Rousay.
Picture credit: Bradford University
Working in Collaboration with the City University of New York
The Pictish smithy is part of an excavation project directed by Dr Julie Bond and Dr Stephen Dockrill. The site is being excavated by staff and students from the University of Bradford in collaboration with the City University of New York. The building is part of a substantial Iron Age settlement which is being rapidly destroyed by the sea. It is expected that with the onset of autumn, the damage to the site from wind and waves will be increased. Work this year has centred on the Pictish workshop and a Neolithic Chambered Cairn which is also being eroded.
The project is funded by the Swandro Orkney Coastal Archaeology Trust, Historic Environment Scotland, National Lottery, University of Bradford, Orkney Islands Council, Rousay Development Trust and the Orkney Archaeological Society.
Everything Dinosaur acknowledges the help of a press release from the University of Bradford in the compilation of this article.
The dedicated and enthusiastic production team at JurassicCollectables have made a video review of the new for 2018 Papo Compsognathus dinosaur model. At Everything Dinosaur, the Compsognathus (along with the Papo Quetzalcoatlus), represent the last of this year’s models to be introduced. It was certainly worth the wait, especially if you like to collect prehistoric animal figures that are reminiscent of the dinosaurs seen in the “Jurassic Park/Jurassic World” film franchises. Papo have done a splendid job producing a replica of “elegant jaw”, which at one time, was regarded as the smallest dinosaur known to science.
In the short video review, it lasts a little over ten minutes, the JurassicCollectables narrator reviews this new theropod model and compares and contrasts this figure with the increasingly rare Rebor Sentry Compsognathus. Also featured is the classic Papo green standing Tyrannosaurus rex replica, an iconic Papo figure, now sadly out of production.
JurassicCollectables – Papo Compsognathus Dinosaur Model Video Review
Video credit: JurassicCollectables
JurassicCollectables have produced video reviews of every single prehistoric animal and dinosaur replica that Papo have produced, to see these videos and to subscribe to their fantastic YouTube channel: Subscribe to JurassicCollectables on YouTube.
The Papo Compsognathus Dinosaur Model
The Papo Compsognathus figure has an articulated jaw.
A Finely Detailed Papo Compsognathus Model with an Elegant Articulated Jaw
The finely detailed model has an articulated lower jaw. The JurassicCollectables reviewer highlights the jaw and discusses the painting of this feature. Papo have produced another excellent figure with an articulated jaw, it is quite a skilled job to be able to produce such a small, articulated component. It is also apt, as Compsognathus means “elegant jaw”, in recognition of this small dinosaur’s elegant, narrow snout and small jaw bones.
To see the range of Papo prehistoric animal models available from Everything Dinosaur (including the Papo Compsognathus): Papo Prehistoric Animals.
In the JurassicCollectables Video the Papo Compsognathus is Compared with the Rebor Compsognathus (Sentry)
In the JurassicCollectables video, the Papo Compsognathus model is compared to the Rebor Compsognathus.
Picture credit: JurassicCollectables
The picture above shows one of the studio shots from the video showing the new for 2018 Papo Compsognathus (background) being compared to the Rebor Compsognathus figure (foreground). In this well put together video review, JurassicCollectables comment extensively about these dinosaur models.
The narrator comments:
“Love the use of colour! The jaw opens really wide which is perfect, it is more of a 1/6th scale figure. The sculpt is incredible.“
Look out also for a cameo appearance by “off-colour Alan”, the Papo Compsognathus replica is one dinosaur model that Alan can look straight in the eye. Our thanks to the team at JurassicCollectables for posting up this super video review.
