Southern California construction crews unearth fossil 'treasure trove'

[Elmore Furth]

Southern California Edison crews constructing a new substation in Riverside County found a 1.4 milltreasure trove of fossils 1.4 million years old.

Excavation at the site has so far revealed what may be California's oldest example of the saber-toothed cat Smilodon gracilis, a specimen more than a million years older than the Smilodon fatalis from the La Brea tar pits, which carry an array of fossils dating to as recently as 9,000 years ago.

Scientists so far have identified more than 1,450 specimens, including about 250 large vertebrate fossils and more than 1,220 fossils that are rabbit-size or smaller.

Other specimens include llamas, horses and deer and more saber-toothed cats, some rare and others previously unknown. There is one of the earliest examples of a giant ground sloth and many of the fossils are in a remarkably well-preserved state, Reynolds said.

Smaller animals include meadow mice, gophers and kangaroo rats. Some of the remains are found in fossilized excreta, indicating that owls or hawks were hunting in nearby areas, then flying in and depositing the remains of their dinner on the site.

Construction crews unearth fossil 'treasure trove'

[Vivid Lizard]

1. Southern California construction crews unearth fossil 'treasure trove'

This is so cool. I know Bob Reynolds. When I was in junior high he took a group of us on a geology trip around Southern California. Later, I went into my first old abandoned mine with him and his crew. A really down to earth (pun intended) and nice guy. Lots of great stories.

[Suich]

2. I can't imagine how exciting this is for Mr. Reynolds!

Welcome to DU, Vivid Lizard!!!

:bounce: :applause: :party: :applause: :bounce:

[Enthusiast]

3. What an incredible discovery! nt

[starroute]

4. And they just found a fossil whale under the San Diego zoo

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0918-whale-20100918,0,1163283.story

The San Diego Zoo has about 4,000 animals — all carefully catalogued. For at least a few more days, it will have one more that officials didn't even know existed until Thursday, when an excavating machine digging a hole for a storm-water runoff tank made a distinctive scraping sound.

Gino Calvano, a paleontologist at the San Diego Natural History Museum, acting as a fossil monitor on the project, heard the sound and came running. He looked at the machine operator.

"I just kind of made eye contact with him," Calvano said. "He knew right away that I had heard something big."

Calvano realized that the machine's metal scoop had scraped a large fossilized skeleton. A quick inspection determined the skeleton was that of a whale from about 3 million years ago.