Researchers from the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the University of Birmingham have conducted a new excavation at Dewars Farm quarry near Bicester during the summer of 2025. This follows an earlier dig in 2024 that uncovered hundreds of dinosaur footprints from the Middle Jurassic Period, including those of Megalosaurus and larger herbivorous dinosaurs.
The recent week-long excavation resulted in the identification and documentation of hundreds more individual prints from four trackways. All these trackways were made by sauropod dinosaurs, large long-necked herbivores such as Cetiosaurus. One notable find is Europe’s longest sauropod dinosaur trackway, stretching about 220 metres from the first to last exposed footprint.
Dr Duncan Murdock, Earth Scientist at OUMNH, said: "What is most exciting about this site is the sheer size and number of footprints. We now have evidence of tens of individuals moving through this area at around the same time, perhaps as a herd."
More than 100 people participated in the dig, including collaborators from Liverpool John Moores University and volunteers from all three universities. The team worked for seven days on a much drier and harder surface compared to last year, focusing on approximately 80 large sauropod prints that crossed the site in a north-south direction.
Dr Murdock commented on the conditions: "The hot and dry weather baked the surface like concrete in places, so we weren’t able to fully excavate every footprint." In addition to uncovering three more trackways—one continuing from prints first found in 2022—the team also discovered smaller fossils such as marine invertebrates, plant material, and part of a crocodile jaw. New for this year was systematic sampling of sediments under and within the footprints for further analysis.
A full description of the site’s significance, scientific discoveries, and future preservation plans is expected soon. The excavation was made possible by ongoing collaboration with quarry operators Smiths Bletchington and staff at Dewars Farm and Duns Tew Quarry.
Additional coverage is available in a BBC feature titled ‘In the footsteps of giants.’