A 166-million-year-old 'dinosaur highway' has been found in southern England.

(CNN) — Scientists have unearthed nearly 200 dinosaur footprints, dating back 166 million years to the Middle Jurassic Period, at Dewars Farm Quarry in Oxfordshire, England.

The extraordinary discovery, initially noticed in 2023 when quarry worker Gary Johnson detected “strange elevations” on the ground while mining limestone for roadwork, has been dubbed the “dinosaur highway” in reference to the vast trails created by these ancient beings.

Although various Jurassic pathways have been recorded around the world, the recent discovery of a "highway" in Oxfordshire stands out as the largest known dinosaur track site in the UK.

In June of this year, approximately 100 volunteers from the University of Birmingham and the University of Oxford came together for a week to excavate the site and meticulously document as much information as they could about the extensive area.

This discovery is especially noteworthy as it coincides with the 200th anniversary of the identification of the first dinosaur, the Megalosaurus, which was uncovered in Oxfordshire in 1824.

Kirsty Edgar, a micropaleontology professor at the University of Birmingham in England who participated in the excavation, stated, “This region has a rich history of fascinating dinosaur tracks and body fossils.”

The newly found tracks link to a dinosaur trail that was discovered in the same Oxfordshire quarry in 1997, although that area is now off-limits.

Nonetheless, as technology continues to progress, the newly discovered trackways will offer researchers the chance to examine information that was once inaccessible regarding these extinct species, revealing insights into their locomotion, feeding behaviors, and social interactions.

An ancient map of the past

During the excavation, scientists uncovered five extensive trackways, with the longest continuous pathway measuring more than 150 meters in length (492 feet), according to a University of Birmingham news release.

Four of these trails featured imprints from massive, long-necked, four-legged herbivorous dinosaurs classified as sauropods — most likely Cetiosaurus, which could grow up to 18 meters (59 feet) long, with the largest footprints measuring 90 centimeters (approximately 35 inches) in length, as noted by Edgar.

Lawrence Tanner, a paleoecologist and professor at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York, compared sauropods to contemporary elephants, emphasizing their enormous size and plant-based diet. He pointed out that the majority of the fossilized tracks were made by their hind legs, observing that, much like elephants, the hind feet of sauropods were considerably larger and frequently overshadowed the prints created by their front feet.

According to Tanner, who was not part of the excavation team, “The basic principle of locomotion is that as an animal increases its speed, the distance between its footprints also increases.”

The fifth pathway featured tracks left by the Megalosaurus, a large carnivorous dinosaur recognized for its unique three-toed feet. It is estimated that the Megalosaurus could reach lengths of up to 9 meters (30 feet), and researchers in Oxfordshire discovered footprints measuring 65 centimeters (2.1 feet) in length.

By analyzing the footprints, scientists were able to ascertain both the direction and velocity of the dinosaurs' movement