“Unbelievable Find: Amateur Fossil Hunter Uncovers 66-Million-Year-Old Mystery Beneath Denmark’s Shores!”
Our World During The Cretaceous Period
The Cretaceous period began 145 million years ago and lasted around 80 million years. The supercontinent Pangea had started to split millions of years earlier, and tectonic plates had shifted the world’s continents across the globe.
The climate was warmer than it is today, and sea levels were hundreds of feet higher. Areas that we know as cold and barren today — such as Antarctica — were once thriving rainforests.
J. McKay/Alfred Wegener InstituteAn illustration of Antarctica roughly 90 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period.
During the Late Cretaceous Epoch, roughly 100.5 to 66 million years ago, much of modern-day Scandinavia was submerged underwater. In Denmark, a shallow tropical sea known as the Western European Chalk Sea supported a rich variety of marine life.
The recent discovery of a fossilized pile of vomit offers a tangible glimpse into this diverse ecosystem — and proof that one creature’s unfortunate meal can become a scientific treasure.
A Self-Proclaimed ‘Fossil Geek’ Finds Prehistoric Vomit
In November 2024, amateur fossil hunter Peter Bennicke was searching the beaches at the Cliffs of Stevns in eastern Denmark when he split open a large chunk of chalk and spotted a bizarre fossil inside.
Bennicke took the fossil to the Geomuseum Faxe, where sea lily expert John Jagt examined it and concluded that it was a collection of sea lilies regurgitated by a marine creature, perhaps a bottom-dwelling shark, roughly 66 million years ago.
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