Dozens of well-preserved shark teeth, a complete skull with Nothosaurus’s teeth and bones of terrestrial reptiles from the Procolophon group are the most important discoveries of a team of scientists, which included researchers from the Faculty of Biology at the University of Warsaw, following the tenth excavation season in Miedary.

This year’s excavations were led by researchers from the Institute of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Warsaw: Dr Mateusz Tałanda, Dr Sergi López-Torres and doctoral candidate Wojciech Pawlak, as well as researchers from the Institute of Paleobiology of the Polish Academy of Sciences: Dr Łukasz Czepiński and doctoral candidate Adam Rytel.

“The tenth excavation season was extremely successful. We reached deeper rock layers, in which we discovered new fossils, above all fish teeth, and among them several dozen very well-preserved shark teeth,” Dr Mateusz Tałanda from the UW’s Institute of Evolutionary Biology, pointed out.

Palaeontologists also discovered a well-preserved and complete skull with teeth belonging to a marine reptile – a Nothosaurus.

“The perfectly preserved find will allow a better understanding of these extinct animals: their diet, behaviour and relatedness to other similar forms,” Dr Mateusz Tałanda said.

The scientists also found bones of terrestrial reptiles from the Procolophonia, resembling today’s small lizards.

The discovered fossils date back 240 million years and belong to both terrestrial and marine animals.