Law School Construction Site Is Field of Dreams for Paleontologists
Earlier this month, it was a rare ancient mammoth’s fossilized bones. But it was soon followed by another whale of a find at a construction site for a California law school that was, literally, a whale some 600,000 years ago.
The latest discovery Wednesday—at what has become a field of dreams for paleontologists at the new site of the Thomas Jefferson School of Law—is unprecedented in San Diego County, reports the San Diego Union-Tribune. And the dig isn’t over yet—there’s still another 10 feet to go before the construction excavation, which is now being handled by paleontologists, reaches its planned depth.
“It’s truly amazing because here we are on one project that’s not even that big, and we’re getting so many fossils out of it,” paleontologist Pat Sena tells a local NBC News affiliate.
It is also particularly exciting at an institution named for a lawyer and statesman known for his keen interest in fossils, according to Dean Rudy Hasl, who plans to have some previously discovered scallop shells embedded in the law school’s foyer. “People will be walking on 500,000 years of history,” he tells the Union-Tribune.
“The lead paleontologist, whose specialty is the baleen whale, has stated that this discovery is extraordinary and probably more significant than the mammoth discovery,” Hasl tells the ABA Journal in an e-mail update. “It is the only marine mammal dating from the Pleistocene era ever found in San Diego County. The whale is estimated to be about 40 feet in length, and the bones uncovered so far consist of ribs, part of the skull, and a major part of the lower jaw.”
The law school has devoted a website page to the ongoing dig, which will provide updated news as it continues.
Additional coverage:
City Wire: “Ancient Whale Bones Found In SD County”
ABAJournal.com: “Mammoth Discovery Delays Work on New Thomas Jefferson Site in Calif.”
