The Bristol Dinosaur Thecodontosaurus and related microvertebrates

In the autumn of 1834, the surgeon Henry Riley started to uncover fossil saurichian bones near Durdham Down, Clifton, Bristol which were later named Thecodontosaurus. The majority of the excavted material was destroyed during in the 1940s but the 1980s and the 2010s saw the collection of more materials from sites especially Tytherington.

The dinosaur's scientific name, Thecodontosaurus antiquus, means ‘ancient socket-toothed reptile’.  It lived around 210 million years ago when the area where Tytherington now stands was part of one of a number of warm, tropical islands known as the Mendip Archipelago – a little like the Caribbean or the Seychelles today.

Thecodontosaurus was a small dinosaur, 2.5 metres long (about the size of a medium sized dog such as a Labrador with a long tail) with powerful back legs and smaller front legs.  It walked around on all fours but reached up into the trees with its front legs, using its claws to grab hold of the stems of prehistoric trees known as cycads.  Its small sharp teeth, each with tiny sharp bumps running along one side, were like knives able to tear through thick, juicy leaves.  Thecodontosaurus lived in small groups known as herds, with the male animals being larger than the females.

In 2009, HLF core funded the Bristol Dinosaur Project, which allowed for the hiring of an Educational Officer and a Fossil Preparator. This funding resulted in 3,5 years of extensive laboratory and research work that produced thousands of fossil bones and microvertebrates.

Vertebrates from the Late Triassic Thecodontosaurus-bearing rocks of Durdham Down, Clifton (Bristol, UK)

Naming the Bristol dinosaur, Thecodontosaurus: politics and science in the 1830s

The age, fauna and palaeoenvironment of the Late Triassic fissure deposits of Tytherington, South Gloucestershire, UK

The Late Triassic microvertebrate fauna of Tytherington, UK

The Bristol Dinosaur Project