A REMARKABLE slice of Yorkshire's Jurassic history has been unveiled in York.

A giant sandstone block featuring casts of more than 80 dinosaur footprints which were formed in the bed of a Jurassic beck on the Yorkshire coast 175 million years ago went on show for the first time at the Yorkshire Museum.

The exhibit was presented to Richard Hodgeson, of the National Trust, yesterday, and will form a key part of the Trust's new display at the Yorkshire National Trust Visitor Centre at Robin Hood's Bay.

"These tracks capture a unique moment that has been frozen in the sands of time," said Dr Phil Manning, keeper of geology at the Yorkshire Museum, who made the presentation with Dr Dave Williams, of the Open University.

He and Dr Williams worked with a team of scientists on the English Nature-funded project to preserve the footprints.

The tracks, which were discovered at a secret location on National Trust land on the Yorkshire coast, feature dinosaur tracks along with tiny prints which could have been made by a lizard or one of our tiny mammalian ancestors.

Updated: 12:13 Friday, June 28, 2002