Wed Mar 12 07:23:33 UTC 2025: ## Dusty School Rock Reveals Trove of 200-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Footprints
**Biloela, Queensland, Australia** – A remarkable paleontological discovery has been made in the most unexpected of places: a Queensland school. A rock slab, donated to a Biloela school in 2002 and largely overlooked for two decades, has revealed dozens of remarkably preserved dinosaur footprints dating back to the early Jurassic period, approximately 200 million years ago.
University of Queensland paleontologist Dr. Anthony Romilio was called in to examine the slab after the school inquired about some three-toed track marks. What he found was astounding: 66 individual footprints, representing one of the highest concentrations ever documented in Australia, crammed onto a surface area of less than one square meter. The prints belong to *Anomoepus scambus*, a small, bipedal herbivore.
“My jaw dropped,” said Romilio, describing his reaction upon discovering the incredible density of fossils. The discovery is particularly significant because it provides a unique glimpse into dinosaur abundance, movement, and behavior from a period where no dinosaur bones have been found in Australia.
The rock, originally unearthed by coal miners, sat unnoticed in the school foyer, with some teachers even believing the footprints to be replicas. Romilio’s research, published in the journal *Historical Biology*, highlights the importance of citizen science and the potential for significant fossil discoveries to remain undiscovered, even in plain sight.
The discovery wasn’t limited to the school slab. Romilio also found another significant footprint on a two-tonne boulder marking the entrance to a coal mine car park, further underscoring the region’s rich paleontological potential. This finding reinforces the fact that many significant fossils are discovered not by professional paleontologists, but by members of the public. The researchers hope this discovery will encourage others to keep an eye out for similar finds.
First Piper 