This is a regular tupaware container located within a series of trees on the common.
Back in the mid 19th Century coprolite mining took place on Coldham’s Common, it was discovered that flying reptiles used to live around Coldham’s Common millions of years ago! The coprolite itself is fossilised faeces which, when ground up, can be mixed with acid or water to make fertiliser. The fertiliser was discovered when a brick kiln using local clay exploded!
The fossils of flying reptile and dinosaur poo were found in the ‘Cambridge Greensand’ and date from about 110 million years ago. The fossils that were found were mostly from Pterosaurs (Greek for flying lizard); fish-eating reptiles, including the Ornithocherius species and also Ichthyosaurs (Greek for fish lizard); large marine reptiles, fish specimens and a variety of poorly preserved dinosaurs.
For more details please visit the Historyworks project website www.creatingmycambridge.com
Cache Placed with kind permission of Cambridge City Council Wildlife Officer