FOSSIL HUNT IN THE NORTHEAST OF SKÅNE
- Go to booking site – or read more below
For 80 million years ago, when the dinosaurs were still alive, giant sea living reptiles were swimming around in a big ocean where Bromölla is today. Therefore, skeletons of them and other sea living animals can be found in the ground we walk on. It can be difficult to find fossils from animals that lived many millions of years ago – but not in Bromölla. It is Sweden’s most dinosaur dense place and here you’ll find the only field station that is open for guided tours.
Do you find it exciting with dinosaurs, reptiles and fossils Bromölla is the right place to visit! Here you can become a fossil hunter for a day and sift out your own fossils that are 80 million years old. The station is open with a knowledgeable fossil guide that can help you to determine the species of your findings.
The Fossil Hunt tour starts with a visit to The House of the Sea Dragons – an exhibition showing some of the quantities of fossils that has been found in Bromölla. Here you can learn a little more about the marine reptiles – sea dragons, dinosaurs, sharks and many other animals that lived at that time. After the introduction, we drive up to the Field Station for fossil hunting.
Armed with bucket and shovel, you will then get to search your own fossils – and the knowledgeable guide will help you determine the species the fossils you found. You can save your findings in a box and take them home as a souvenir!
During the Creatceous period
About 80 million years ago, our surroundings were covered by a hot and, for the most part, shallow sea very much like an archipelago. Our little part of the world was then located roughly where the Mediterranean is located today.
The often gigantic dinosaurs walked around on land and the sky was crowded with Pterodactyls and birds of that time. The sea was literally buzzing with life. Most conspicuous were of course the large marine reptiles – the sea dragons.
Deposits from this period and remains which bear witness to the inhabitants of this sea are preserved under our feet in a large contiguous limestone section of bedrock called the Kristianstad Basin.
The Exhibition
The exhibition materials have been collected from the Bromölla-Kristianstad area by the undersigned over a period of about 25 years.
The goal has been to produce an exhibition that would be entertaining, clear, and of interest to the general public.
We are only too pleased to receive feedback and comments.
Filip Lindgren Fossilforum tel 0708 843164
The Kristianstad Basin
The bedrock consists of cretaceous limestone and is marked with a diamond pattern on the map below
Some classic areas where finds have been made are marked with •
Please note that it is always your responsibility to find out what the rules are that apply in the various locations.
Dinosaur finds
It is not at all easy to find fossils of terrestrial dinosaurs in the Kristianstad basin! Our Cretaceous sediments became fossils in an archipelago environment. But in the highlands of Småland, the Cretaceous sea’s foamy breakers crashed onto the mainland and perhaps there were Islands large enough to accommodate a terrestrial fauna.
Amazingly enough, we have found 11 teeth, 2 vertebrae and 5 finger bone from horned dinosaurs of the family Leptoceratopsidae. these peaceful herbivores were smaller relatives of the well-known Triceratops. These finds were initially the first of their kind in Europe.
”-I was the lucky one to find the unique finger bone.”
-Filip Lindgren 2010
Tooth from Leptoceratops sp. Photo: Johan Lindgren/Lund University
