Rotunda Museum explores mega footprints of a region in Scarborough's Lost Dinosaurs

Exhibition: Scarborough's Lost Dinosaurs, Rotunda Museum, Scarborough, until September 2013

If any English region can lay claim to thick-skinned prehistoric prominence, it’s Scarborough’s coastal climes.

Two-foot long megalosaurus footprints – embedded in huge boulders from 160 million years ago – and tri-toe markings in sandstone trackways have been among a lengthy list of distinctly Jurassic telltale signs found in the area.

And this exhibition asks the question each new discovery poses: why have so many traces remained when so few bones have materialised?

“For the first time ever, nearly all the dinosaur bones found on our coastline will be on display in one place,” says Shirley Collier, of Scarborough Museums Trust.

“They may be small in number, but they more than make up for it in importance and rarity. We want to bring this amazing period of earth history to life.”

There’s a profound and academic culmination to the 16-month show, ending with a fossil festival supported by the Natural History Museum and an international symposium hoping to solve some of the puzzles behind those mystery footprints.

But next week, to coincide with half-term, there are also mask and skeleton-making workshops (including the chance to construct your own head in forensic detail), trails, puppet and culinary sessions and charm-crafting sessions.

• Admission £4.50/£4 (£9/£8 Open Return includes free entry to Rotunda and Scarborough Art Gallery.

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