The Plesiosaur Project - from discovery to display

an amazing discovery | the outback today | Coober Pedy - back to the Cretaceous |
The Addyman Plesiosaur - a national treasure | The Plesiosaur Puzzle |
Plesiosaur Birthing Ground | Skin Deep - making the plesiosaur model

An amazing discovery

The Addyman Plesiosaur is a unique skeleton preserved in opal. It represents a new species of plesiosaur, which cannot be named because important parts of the skeleton are missing. These parts, including the skull may have been eaten by scavengers, or washed away before burial and fossilisation.

John and Molly Addyman discovered the opalised skeleton of a plesiosaur in this small underground cave while mining for opal at Andamooka in 1968.

It is becoming less common to find skeletons in the opal fields because machines have replaced the pick and shovel and fossils are broken and destroyed in the new mining process.

Mr Addyman offered this amazing specimen to the South Australian Museum for $25,000 because he believed that it was a treasure that belonged to the people of South Australia.

The Outback Today

The caravan used by John and Molly Addyman while opal mining at Andamooka.

Coober Pedy (845km) and Andamooka (620km) are located in the Outback of South Australia, north of Adelaide. The climate is typical of a semi-desert environment, and between March and November, the weather is very pleasant with warm days and cold nights. From December to February the weather warms up and summer temperatures range from 35C in the shade, with occasional dust storms. The annual rainfall in this area is minimal, at around 175mm (5inches) per annum.

	LINKS Fossil locations in Australia Fossil information at the Australian Museum Naracoorte Caves Coober Pedy

Museum palaeontologists carefully excavating fossils from the ancient Cretaceous sea bed on Moon Plain, near Andamooka in north west South Australia.

The township of Coober Pedy is situated in a stony, treeless desert on the edge of the Stuart Ranges. Very little plant life exists in the town due to the region's low rainfall, high cost of water, and the infertile soils.