5 year old girl found 160 million-year-old Rieneckia odysseus fossil

A huge 160 million-year-old fossil was discovered last year by five-year-old, Emily Baldry. This was her first ever archaeological dig with the use of a kids' seaside spade. The 130lb (60kg) specimen was found as Emily struck something hard when she was digging into the earth at Cotswold Water Park in Gloucestershire with her green plastic beach spade. The 9st specimen, enormous fossil was dug out of the ground by Emily with the help of her dad Jon Baldry and palaeontologist Neville Hollingworth. They were surprised about that she discovered a rare 162.8 million-year-old Rieneckia ammonite fossil, whose measurement is 16 inches (40cm) in diameter.

The discovered fossil was a mollusk that existed in the seas throughout the Jurassic period, similar to dinosaurs. Emily gave a nickname ‘Spike’ to this sea creature because it contains a spiral-patterned shell with inch-long bristles sticking out from it to protect against predators. This fossil was passed to geologist Neville Hollingworth for reinstatement because when it was found, it covered in a block of mudstone. The spike is placed at the Gateway Information Centre near Cirencester at which she was reunited with it on Sunday.

Emily takes pleasure in digging, generally right in the middle of the back garden, but she had taken to something like this for the first time. Emily’s dad Jon and grandparents Pam and Les Baldry took her to the dig on Sunday near Cirencester, Gloucestershire from Malmesbury, Wiltshire. This fossil is also the largest of its type and it is incredibly rare so, it's very exciting to see it. At present, the fossil is being cleaned and placed at the Gateway Information Centre along with a range of other fossils.