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borgslayer
Rear Admiral
Joined: 27 Aug 2003
Posts: 2646
Location: Las Vegas
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 Sat Apr 09, 2005 11:31 am Ice Age discovery in sunny California |
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| Quote: |
Mammoth remains unearthed at construction site
MOORPARK, Calif. - The remarkably well-preserved remnants of an estimated half-million-year-old mammoth �including both tusks � were discovered at a new housing development in Southern California.
An onsite paleontologist found the remains, which include 50 percent to 70 percent of the Ice Age creature, as crews cleared away hillsides to prepare for building, Mayor Pro Tem Clint Harper said.
Paleontologist Mark Roeder estimated the mammoth was about 12 feet tall, Harper said. Roeder believed it was not a pygmy or imperial mammoth, but he had not yet determined its exact type, Harper said.
"It's considered a very significant find, and it's a very complete fossil. It's unusual because it was found all the way down near the bedrock," Harper said. "We asked if carbon dating could be used and they said no way, it's too old."
Harper said the first bones were spotted several days ago and a special crew was called in after Roeder found more remnants, including the 6- and 7-foot-long tusks.
"They've been encased in plaster and burlap and removed from the site," Harper said.
Moorpark in Ventura County is about 30 miles west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
"The Moorpark mammoth, that's what we'll call it," Harper said.
Other Ice Age creatures have been found in recent years around Southern California, including a mastodon in Simi Valley, a mammoth in Oceanside and a pygmy mammoth on the Channel Islands.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7433097/ |
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nadia
cookie
Joined: 08 Apr 2005
Posts: 8560
Location: Australia
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| Sat Apr 09, 2005 9:49 pm |
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Thats one big hairy elephant!
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madlilnerd
Duchess of Dancemat
Joined: 03 Aug 2004
Posts: 5885
Location: Slough, England
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| Sun Apr 10, 2005 2:08 pm |
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Cool, I wish they'd find mammoths near us!
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zero
Rear Admiral
Joined: 03 Apr 2005
Posts: 4566
Location: Texas
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| Sun Apr 10, 2005 6:07 pm |
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That is so odd they would find something like that in such a warm area. That is the ghetto, and the valley to top it off And it is HOT! I guess that is cool becasue the world was much different back then.
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madlilnerd
Duchess of Dancemat
Joined: 03 Aug 2004
Posts: 5885
Location: Slough, England
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| Tue Apr 12, 2005 1:49 pm |
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apparently, millions of years ago there were hippos in the Thames in London, so the idea of a mammoth in California isn't actually that ridiculous.
I think it's always amazing the way fossils don't rot away
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zero
Rear Admiral
Joined: 03 Apr 2005
Posts: 4566
Location: Texas
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| Tue Apr 12, 2005 2:19 pm |
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^ Yea, isn't that nutty?
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Jeremy
J's Guy
Joined: 03 Oct 2002
Posts: 7823
Location: Aberdeen, Scotland
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| Tue Apr 12, 2005 3:13 pm |
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| madlilnerd wrote: | apparently, millions of years ago there were hippos in the Thames in London, so the idea of a mammoth in California isn't actually that ridiculous.
I think it's always amazing the way fossils don't rot away |
Fossils have rotted away! Fossils are rock that has been shaped like the bone it shows. You do get flesh that's old and a bit rotted, but it's not called a fossil.
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Leo Wyatt
Sweetest Angel
Joined: 25 Feb 2004
Posts: 19045
Location: Investigating A Crime Scene. What did Quark do this time?
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| Wed Apr 13, 2005 2:29 pm |
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Interesting to read about this .
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madlilnerd
Duchess of Dancemat
Joined: 03 Aug 2004
Posts: 5885
Location: Slough, England
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| Wed Apr 13, 2005 2:58 pm |
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| Jeremy wrote: | | madlilnerd wrote: | apparently, millions of years ago there were hippos in the Thames in London, so the idea of a mammoth in California isn't actually that ridiculous.
I think it's always amazing the way fossils don't rot away |
Fossils have rotted away! Fossils are rock that has been shaped like the bone it shows. You do get flesh that's old and a bit rotted, but it's not called a fossil. |
I thought it was the preserved bones, that's why ammonites are a different colour to the rock around them. Oh well, never mind, fossils and hunks of rotting meat are both cool
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Jeremy
J's Guy
Joined: 03 Oct 2002
Posts: 7823
Location: Aberdeen, Scotland
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| Thu Apr 14, 2005 9:58 am |
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As such it's preserved bones. Put simply its caused when water with minerals gets into the bones and the water evaporated. Eventually this creates a layer of minerals which is rock and so the rock is in the shape of the bones, preserving the bones in a sense.
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