Earth Collections: Cretaceous database

The Cretaceous Period extended from 145-65 million years ago. Cretaceous fossils make up almost half of the geological collections, with a total of over 90,000 specimens. The vast majority of these are invertebrates, mainly ammonites and bivalves, but fish, mosasaurs, ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, crocodiles, dinosaurs and pterosaurs are all represented.

The British specimens date from the early 19th century and include material collected by William Buckland, E. C. Davey and A. J. Jukes-Browne, amongst others. More recent holdings include the O. H. Bayliss and W. J. Kennedy collections from the Cenomanian of Devon and Dorset, and the R. I. Kirby collection from the Albian of Kent.

Of the foreign material, a great deal was collected by J. M. Hancock and W. J. Kennedy, from France, South Africa and the United States. The A. S. Gale collection, containing material from Tunisia, France and southern India, is also of note.

Search the database
How to use the databases
A guide to searching the databases

Enquiries regarding the collections should be sent to: earth@oum.ox.ac.uk