Exceptional fossil gives glimpse into Roman life

18 minutes ago

Jodie Halfordand

Henry Godfrey-Evans,in Colchester

News image — The vertebra, found during excavations in Colchester, is the earliest known deliberately-collected ichthyosaur fossil, archaeologists say

Henry Godfrey-Evans/BBC A brown, circular object has a lighter area in the centre and a darker ring outside. It sits in someone's palm. — The vertebra, found during excavations in Colchester, is the earliest known deliberately-collected ichthyosaur fossil, archaeologists say

A fossil found in a Roman pit is "really special" because of what it tells us about the history of humans collecting these items, archaeologists say.

Colchester Archaeological Trust said the discovery of the ichthyosaur fossil, thought to be about 100 million years old, was "exceptional".

It was found during a dig in 2024 at the site of the former Essex County Hospital in Lexden Road. Researchers recently finished their study examining the fossil's origins.

The trust believes it was most likely found nearly 1,900 years ago, before someone deposited it in a pit along with other items of value.

Xander Smith, a senior site assistant, said the discovery, which is the earliest known example of an ichthyosaur fossil being deliberately collected, "gives this kind of direct tie with the dawn of palaeontology".

"That it was kept at all, and it's been transported and had that human interaction with it as an object - that's really special and really important," Smith added.

Ichthyosaurs were marine reptiles who roamed the seas at the time of the dinosaurs, and about whom little was known until fossil hunter Mary Anning's discoveries in Lyme Regis, Dorset, in the 1800s.

Colchester Archaeological Trust A woman with short brown hair wears a white, round-necked t-shirt and smiles at the camera. She is holding aloft a small, circular fossil. — Archaeologist Chelsea Hodges identified the ichthyosaur fossil when the team were processing their finds after the excavation

Archaeologists said the fossil likely originated from the east Kent coast when the Romans were quarrying "greensand" building stone.

The stone was being used in the construction of Colchester - or Camulodunum as it was then known - and the fossil appeared to have been later placed into the pit.

"It offers an extraordinarily rare glimpse of somebody living in Roman Britain encountering evidence of a world far older than their own," said Adam Wightman, the trust's director of archaeology.

During the Roman occupation of Britain, large fossils and ancient bones were often interpreted as the physical remains of legendary creatures, heroes or other beings from the distant past.

Henry Godfrey-Evans/BBC A brown, circular object has a lighter area in the centre and a darker ring outside. It is pictured on top of a white surface with tissue paper at one end, with writing on to catalogue the object. — The discovery of the fossil in a securely-dated Roman pit "made it entirely exceptional", said archaeologist Patrick Spencer

Lead author Patrick Spencer, Wightman and Laura Pooley, from the trust, have had their study into the fossil discovery published in an academic journal.

Russell Quirk, the Reform UK deputy leader of Essex County Council, said the find was "another reminder of the extraordinary stories still waiting to be discovered beneath our feet in Essex".

A coffin and the remains of a Roman woman inside have also been found at the site in Lexden Road, which is being turned into 120 homes.