Using modern medical techniques, Dr Neil Clark (Hunterian Museum, Glasgow), Dr Calum Adams (Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley) and Tristan Lawton (Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh) scanned a hole in the sandstone which has now been revealed to be all that remains of a mammal-like reptile (dicynodont) from the Permian Period (250 million years old). When scanned using MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and CT (Computerised Tomography), a 3D representation of the hole reveals its true nature - a complete skull. This is the first time that the mouldic remains of a fossil have been studied using MRI. Dr Arthur Cruickshank (New Walk Museum, Leicester) helped to identify the animal as the species Dicynodon lacerticeps.
Dicynodonts are not our direct ancestors, nor did they give rise to the dinosaurs which evolved about 230 million years ago during the Triassic Period. The quarry from which this sandstone block was collected, is the subject of another study into footprints and trackways which are quite common there. It appears that the dicynodont may have died while trying to cross a large desert dune northwards to the feeding grounds now under the Moray Firth.
This study was featured on BBC’s Tomorrow’s World on December 13th, 2000. The study includes a 3D rotating interactive of the MRI image of the skull.
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