Bristol Dinosaur

Department of Earth Sciences’ Geology Museum

Bristol Dinosaur

This is one of the vertebrae (individual backbones) of Thecodontosaurus, a relatively-small plant-eating dinosaur, that lived in the Bristol area some 200-220 million years ago. Its fossilised bones have been found in caves and fissures of Triassic age that are preserved within the Carboniferous Limestone of the local area, and in South Wales. The first bones, excavated and named by local surgeon Henry Riley and museum curator Samuel Stuchbury, were discovered in 1834 in a quarry on Durdham Down, but most of the original material was destroyed when Bristol City Museum was bombed in 1940. Fortunately, more bones have since been found in South Gloucestershire, and are slowly being freed from their matrix by Earth Sciences’ fossil preparator Remmert Schouten.

  • Item reference: BRSUG 26629
  • Photographer: Simon Powell
  • Copyright: Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol
  • This image is licensed for some educational use only. Users must abide by these terms and conditions.