Bones of Rare Dinosaur Found

[Ron Baalke <BAALKE@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov>]

Forwarded from John Dunlevey.

           MAJOR FIND FOR AMATEUR FOSSIL COLLECTOR.

Mrs Lin Spearpoint, who has been collecting fossils for less than
a year, has unearthed the bones of one of the worlds rarest dinosaurs.
The most complete skeleton of polacanthus was found at Brightstone
on the Isle of Wight near where she lives.

On finding the first bones Mrs Spearpoint showed them to Mr Martin
Simpson a respected amateur from Whitwell who recognised that they
were of mayor importance and immediately set in motion a full-scale
excavation.  Only two partial skeletons of the armour plated 
herbivore have been found before, one in 1867 and the other in 1979, 
and both are in the British Museum.

The 3.6 by 1.5m skeleton is being restored and will go on display at
Mr Simpson's museum.  "This will help re-write the dinosaur books, 
as all the previous restorations of this animal were based on 
incomplete material" Mr Simpson said.

---    Information Source  SA Sunday Times 10/03/93
                           Article by Robert Bedlow, London.