Ammon News - A couple, who took their dogs for a walk on a beach, stumbled upon unfamiliar footprints — leading to the launch of an urgent archaeological effort.

Ivor Campbell and Jenny Snedden were walking along Lunan Bay in Angus, Scotland, when they noticed "distinct markings" that had been unearthed after the sands shifted due to a recent storm, according to a news release from the University of Aberdeen.

"[Campbell] called council archaeologist Bruce Mann, who, suspecting both the significance of the discovery and the race against time they faced to capture it — called in expertise from the University of Aberdeen," the release stated.

A team of archaeologists, including Professor Kate Britton, went to see what the couple found on the beach shortly after the call. What they found was that the footprints in the sand were a rare, and monumental, find.

They dated back to the early first century A.D., or the "time of Boudicca, Jesus and the height of the Roman Empire," the university said. Radiocarbon dating also confirmed that the footprints were 2,000 years old.

Britton and her team told Fox News they feared that "very destructive storms and unusually high spring tides could destroy what they had revealed at any time."

"We prioritized getting to the site, equipping ourselves as best we could in a hurry," she added. "We were all very conscious [that] this truly was an archaeological emergency."

The professor also told the outlet that trying to preserve the footprints was a difficult task, as the weather was "horrendous."

She compared it to getting "sand-blasted," saying it was "truly the worst conditions I have ever worked in."

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