Iguanodon Dinosaur femur found at Sandown on the Isle of Wight. Great I hear you say, yes but unfotunately on the day in question I was on the beach about to paint a sea scene. I had huddled down out of the wind and was scanning the ocean when, behind me there was an almighty thud as a large part of the cliff collapsed. I went over to have a look and there in front of me was a large chunk of bone, it did not take me long to find the other pieces. Here I was totally unprepared, I jogged home (about a mile) collected the car and a trolley and made my way back to the beach. Now then, if you have never found a bone this large before, it is truly heavy. It took me 2 hours to drag it 300 metres back to the car. Each trip, 4 altogether, I was getting more and more exhausted. On the last trip I was forced to rest every 10 metres, by now a large group of doggy walkers had accumulated, staring, waiting to see if I was about to have a heart attack. As you can guess no one offered to assit.
I got it back to my studio, it is 5 foot odd long weighs a tonne and is taking up precious space. What do I do now? I can clean it up and put it on display or I can sell it on for a finders fee £750.00.
Large Iguanodon femurs are a rare find indeed. The Isle of Wight is one of a very select few locations where bones of this magnitude can be found. I hope my next find will be a lot smaller if only for my back's sake.
Dinosaur bones from the Isle of Wight are dated to the Cretaceous Period 120 million years ago.