Mammoth Discovery Delays Work on New Thomas Jefferson Site in Calif.
A significant discovery of fossilized mammoth bones—including the first skull ever found in San Diego County—will delay the construction of the new downtown San Diego building of Thomas Jefferson School of Law for several weeks.
A law school press release includes photos of the find, and says it was immediately recognized by a paleontologist who had been observing the construction.
This week’s discovery of the remains of the approximately 500,000-year-old creature is particularly exciting, says Dean Rudy Hasl, because the law school’s namesake Virginia lawyer was known for his interest in paleontology and mammoths.
“While serving as president in the early 1800s, Jefferson had fossilized bones of a mastodon found in Ohio shipped to the White House so he could examine them,” writes the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The largest land animal of its time, the mammoth, which is now extinct, was bigger than a modern-day elephant.
Related material:
Archiving Early America: “Thomas Jefferson Paleontologist”
