Worker assembles dinosaur dolphin fossil piece by piece

LONDON - For the likes of Mike Harrison, a part-time worker, it represented the ultimate prehistoric jigsaw.

Harrison’s discovery of a piece of the skull of an ichthyosaur soon after a landslide along the Jurassic coast in 2008, a World Heritage site in southern England, sparked the 47-year-old’s mission.

Ichthyosaur were giant marine reptiles that resembled fish and dolphins. They first appeared 245 million years ago and disappeared about 90 million years ago, 25 million years extinction of dinosaurs. Built for speed, they could swim up to 40 kmph.

After some six months of digging, Harrison managed to discover every part of the dolphin-like creature’s five-foot head, reports the Daily Mail.

Then, in his spare room and on the kitchen table, he pieced together the head, which is 190 million years old and weighs 158 kg.

Harrison explained: “Within a week or two of the landslide I found the first piece of the skull. From then on, it was a race to find the rest of it.”

“Within two or three days I had collected most of the back part of the skull. Shortly after that we had a spell of heavy rain and the land moved again.”

“As that happens it forms a kind of liquid and it spread out the pieces even more, so I really had a job on my hands to find the rest of it.”

Harrison of Sidmouth, East Devon has been fossil hunting for 15 years. He added: “The whole creature would be knocking on 30 feet. They’re so rare it’s likely to be the only one, but there could be more in there.”

“I’ve been busy digging for the body but there have been subsequent land movements since. I could easily have to wait 15 years before I can get the rest. It depends on how rough the weather is.”

Phil Davidson, the palaeontologist at the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre, Britain where the find has been registered, said: “It’s fairly common to find small isolated fossil bones on the beach but to find such an enormous skull is rare. The time and effort Mike has put into finding it is incredible.”