A 100-million-year-old fossil of an extinct dolphin-like marine reptile has been discovered in Colchester.
The ichthyosaur fossil has been identified as the earliest known example deliberately collected by people.
The piece of fossilised vertebra was found in a Roman-era pit in Colchester and is believed to have been acquired, transported, and kept by someone during the Roman period, around 1,600 years before the famous fossil discoveries of Mary Anning in the 19th century.
The vertebra was discovered during the 2024 excavations at the former Essex County Hospital site in Lexden Road by Colchester Archaeological Trust (CAT), ahead of the Lexden Gardens 120 home development.
It has only now been announced to the public.
Patrick Spencer, an archaeologist at Colchester Archaeological Trust and lead author of the study, said: "On several parts of the English coastline, an isolated and heavily wave-worn ichthyosaur vertebra washed out from the base of a cliff may often be a commonplace find and usually of little significance.
"In this case, however, its discovery in a securely dated Roman pit made it entirely exceptional.
"It appears that somebody acquired the fossil, transported it to Colchester and retained it before it was eventually deposited in the pit."
Its weathered condition and the presence of green sandy rock suggest it most likely originated from the east Kent coast between Folkestone and Hythe, an area where greensand stone was quarried and transported for use in Roman-era construction.
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The fossil was found alongside a Roman toilet or cosmetic spoon (known as a ligula), a horse tooth, pottery, and a collection of animal remains, including what may be cat bones.
The reasons for its collection remain unknown, but researchers suggest it may have been valued either for its unusual appearance or for its potential symbolic meaning.
In Greco-Roman tradition, large fossils were sometimes interpreted as the remains of legendary creatures or heroes from the distant past.
Adam Wightman, director of archaeology at Colchester Archaeological Trust and co-author of the study, said: "This is a wonderful example of how an apparently modest object can completely change in significance once its archaeological context is understood.
"The fossil does not just tell us about an animal that lived approximately 100 million years ago.
"It also offers an extraordinarily rare glimpse of somebody living in Roman Britain encountering evidence of a world far older than their own."
The discovery is the earliest known example of an ichthyosaur fossil being deliberately collected by humans and the first to be recovered from a Roman archaeological context.
The study, authored by Patrick S. Spencer, Adam N. Wightman, and Laura E.A. Pooley, has been published in the academic journal Britannia.
It comes after the body of a Roman woman dubbed The Lexden Lady was also found at the site in 2024.
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