CARLSBAD, Calif. — Fossils from the last Ice Age, including bones of ancient mammoths and a prehistoric bison, have been found at a Carlsbad construction site where hundreds of new homes are planned. The fossils, 50,000 to 200,000 years old, were discovered this summer during grading at Carlsbad’s Quarry Creek, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Work was halted while paleontologists carefully removed them.
“I said, ‘Take your time, this is kind of cool,”‘ John Suster, the project superintendent for developer Cornerstone Communities of San Diego, told the newspaper Thursday.
The fossils included horses, turtles and Columbian mammoths. The latter were larger than the better known wooly mammoth and stood as tall as 13 feet at the shoulders and weighed as much as 10 tons.
The bison fossil, which includes a skull and partial skeleton, will eventually go on display at the San Diego Natural History Museum. Tom Deméré, curator of paleontology at the museum, said the animals lived during the Pleistocene Epoch or last Ice Age.
“It’s really an exciting project in terms of the geology and paleontology,” he said. “The fossils have the potential to tell us a great deal about the climate, the environment, the ecology of that time.”
More fossils may be found before construction begins early next year.
Copy the Story LinkSend questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.