World's 'oldest' spider web found - on Bexhill beach

A FOSSIL hunter has turned up what could be the oldest spider web ever woven - found preserved in amber on Bexhill beach.

By The Newsroom

Published 5th Mar 2009, 15:03 BST

Updated 7th Jun 2018, 20:11 BST

Jamie Hiscocks was combing the beach, which is famous for preserved dinosaur prints, with his brother Jonathan when he came across the find.

Jonathan also found fossilised remains of an Iguanadon jawbone.

The amber resin is thought to have started life as tree sap in the Cretaceous period, around 140 million years ago, trapping the spider web as it slid down the tree's trunk.

Scientists think the tree was a conifer and that the sap hardened in a forest fire.

The spider web thread is now being studied at Oxford University.

Bexhill