“Life finds a way,” says Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park – and so it seems have the planning developers for the Nightingale Estate in Hackney Downs after discovering possible evidence of a dinosaur.
Speaking to the Hackney Post, Michael Desmond, the former speaker of Hackney Council and a Hackney Downs councillor, said the possibility of a dinosaur fossil is among the reasons why the estate’s development project has faced years of setbacks.
“Work could not be carried out where there is any potential significant historic or archaeological interest,” said Michael Desmond.
Other reasons for delays include budgeting issues and COVID-19.
Desmond said work could not be carried out “where there is any potential significant historic or archaeological interest.”
“Would you believe it?” he added.
According to Hackney Museum, artefacts from the prehistoric age have previously been found in the borough, including an extinct woolly rhino in Lea Valley and evidence of a mammoth hunting site in Stoke Newington.
These discoveries led to an Evening Standard headline in 2000: “When Hackney Marshes were the Costa del Sol”.
Vadim Goss is the correspondent for Hackney Downs. He has previously written for Palatinate — Durham University's award-winning newspaper, where he served as an editor. He has also written for Indigo Magazine, Wayzgoose Magazine, and The Dove where he was editor-in-chief. If you need anyone for a pub quiz on The Great Gatsby, he is your man.