A barf-tastic discovery from 66 million years ago

Updated Jan. 29, 2025, 7:26 a.m. | By East Coast Breakfast / Skyye Ndlovu

Scientists recently made a barf-tastic discovery that's now deemed "the most famous puke in the world". Wait, what...

66M year old Barf — 66-million-year old barf / @PopCrave / X

No one wants to talk about vomit, right? It’s gross. It’s embarrassing and best flushed away as fast as humanly possible. Yet apparently, not everything gets that luxury, especially if it’s 66 million years old.

Scientists have discovered a chunk of ancient vomit preserved in the white cliffs of Stevns in Denmark. This isn’t your run-of-the-mill barf either. This bad boy, regurgitated by a prehistoric predator, has been hiding out since the Cretaceous period (around 66 million years ago).

Oh, and the prehistoric spewer? It was likely a shark, or maybe some other fish, that thought it’d be fun to snack on sea lilies. Bad call.

As Jesper Milàn, curator at the Geomuseum Faxe, put it: “Sea lilies aren’t great to eat because they’re basically all skeleton.”

After a bit of indigestion, the shark apparently decided to let nature take its course.

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Fast-forward to 2025, and an amateur fossil hunter, Peter Bennicke, splits open some chalk and finds… ancient barf. Imagine that conversation: “Honey, guess what I found today?”

For the sake of dignity, scientists could call this fossilised puke by its proper name: regurgitalite. Although, who are we kidding? It’s puke, and apparently, puke is quite the celebrity these days.

Milàn says this find has already gone viral, attracting interest from China, Russia, and the Arab world. While 66-million-year-old barf might sound impressive, it’s not even a record. Germany holds that title with vomit fossils dating back 150 million years. Shame. Nice try, Denmark.

What’s the big deal about ancient puke, though? Surprisingly, it’s not just gross; it’s educational. Fossilised vomit tells us who ate what and when, offering a fascinating peek into ancient diets.

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So yes, this piece of prehistoric upchuck is now considered an object of “exceptional natural historical value”, officially classified as danekræ. Translation? The barf belongs to Denmark.

The most famous puke in the world (yes, that’s now a thing) will soon take centre stage at the Geomuseum Faxe, about an hour south of Copenhagen. It’s expected to draw big crowds over the winter holidays.

As Milàn put it, with the kind of straight face only a scientist could muster: “This is the most famous piece of puke in the world.”

There you have it: the Mona Lisa of barf. History’s messiest meal gone wrong is now a celebrated piece of science.

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