10 ‘Plesiosaurus’ macrocephalus

3D Model

Plesiosaurus means ‘close-to lizard’. The first complete skeleton of a plesiosaur was discovered by the famous fossil hunter Mary Anning on the Jurassic coast in Dorset in the early 19th century.

Plesiosaurs inhabited the seas around what is now southern England in the early Jurassic Period, 199–191 million years ago. Although the Crystal Palace sculptures look quite sedate, plesiosaurs were ferocious predators, with their paddle-shaped limbs helping power them through the water in pursuit of fish, squid, molluscs and other sea creatures. It is highly unlikely that they were able to crawl on land. Modern evidence suggests that plesiosaurs did not have the slim, very bendy necks possessed by the sculptures but had thicker, more muscular necks and streamlined bodies.

‘Macrocephalus’ means ‘large-headed’ but the sculpture has a rather small head. This may be because images show that the head broke off and was replaced with the wrong head in 1959.

Model by HE Geospatial Survey Team ©Historic England