Ice Age Discovery

Steve England, our local fossil hunter, has recently found a tooth from an ancient horse from the river Frome in snuffmills.

During his fossil walk last June, Steve explained how the grey “pennant sandstone” of the gorge contains many fossils of extinct plants and animals.

He explained that the local rocks were originally laid as sediments from river deltas some 300-360 million years ago during the period described by scientists as the Carboniferous. The remains of ancient plants and animals were left in the sediments too.

After great pressures and the effects of ancient earthquakes, many rocks from the valley can now be split and squared easily for use as building stone. From the old quarries, Steve has collected many Carboniferous aged fossils, but has now found animal remains from the more recent ice age.

As reported last month in the Bristol Evening Post, Steve found a tooth from an extinct species of horse, which must have lived in the valley some 600,000 years ago.Read this following article:

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Ice-Age-discovery-river/story-12946437-detail/story.html