An archeologist and two paleontologists were able to find the fossil of a prehistoric whale, believed to be about four million years old. The said discovery took place in Santa Cruz County on Sept 4.
The group of experts were assigned to assess a housing project site in Scotts Valley at Santas Village Road, when the remnants were excavated. The fossil was fairly intact and measured approximately 25 feet in length.
The specimens of the skull, jaw, shoulders, arms and vertebrae found by the experts were confirmed by Scott Armstrong, a scientist from archeological consulting firm Paleo Solutions, to be parts of a mysticete whale. According to the Los Angeles County-based expert, the said species of whales are connected to the ancestral line of the baleen whale.
The digging and removal of the fossils started on Thursday, Sept 17 at the construction site, where a team of workers shovelled, cleaned and used intricate pieces of tools to retrieve the ancient remnants.
The remains have been placed in a plaster to maintain its relatively intact condition and give way to a safe and convenient transport from the site to the Paleo Solutions office located in Monrovia, where additional analysis will be performed.
The fossils were said to have travelled all the way to the hills by means of natural occurrences such as earthquakes and tectonic plate fluctuations. Majority of locations which have a hill contain a fault line nearby, said Armstrong. These faults are quite inactive but it is from raising thousands or perhaps millions of years back, he added.
Taking into consideration the integrity of the bones, a paleontologist from the UC Santa Cruz named Matthew Clapham thinks the discovery is exceptional. Ancient remains found along the coasts are usually bits and pieces of the skull or other types of bones hence, this new find is something that is quite remarkable.
Studying the obtained remnants will provide the scientists valuable information regarding the evolutionary process of whales, depending on its completeness. The estimated time when the recovered whale lived is an interesting period as this is when the marine animals started to change from their ancestral groups.
Photo: Eden, Janine and Jim | Flickr
