Historians and researchers have made a groundbreaking discovery on the Isle of Skye, Scotland, where Bonnie Prince Charlie fled after the Battle of Culloden. Fossilized footprints of massive dinosaurs, including megalosaurs and sauropods, have been found at Prince Charles’s Point, which is believed to be the site where the Young Pretender took refuge in 1746.
The researchers analyzed 131 fossilized footprints at the shore and reconstructed the tracks made by the dinosaurs across the landscape 167 million years ago. The most striking footprints are about 45cm long and belong to the three-toed megalosaur, a mid-Jurassic predator with sharp, curved claws. Overlapping tracks suggest that the dinosaurs drank at the same shallow freshwater lagoon.
The discovery was made possible by using a drone to take thousands of overlapping images of the shoreline, which were then processed to reconstruct digital 3D models of the footprints. The report is published in Plos One.
The researchers are excited about their findings because they provide insight into how dinosaurs interacted with their environment and how they were distributed during the mid-Jurassic period. A theropod footprint was also discovered inside a sauropod trackway, suggesting that the predator walked in the larger beast’s footsteps.
Historian Steve Brusatte noted that it is unlikely Bonnie Prince Charlie would have known what dinosaurs were, as the word hadn’t been invented yet. However, he wonders if the prince might have noticed large holes in the rock with finger and toe impressions and wondered what they might be. The discovery has provided a unique glimpse into Scotland’s prehistoric past.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/apr/02