Ancestral Mammoth Bones Found During Routine Grading Project

discoveries

Builder And Developer Magazine

Even "Mother Nature" Cannot Keep the Past Buried Forever by Katie Pegler

Workers from Sukut Construction, Inc., routinely grading on a Moorpark hillside March 29, came across bone fragments.The operator of the CAT 657 twin-engine scraper discontinued cutting the terrain and notified Tievor Lindsey the on- site paleontologist from Ecological Sciences in Santa Paula, Calif., who halted all construction in the area to comply with CEQA regulations. Moving to manual excavation, Lindsey found a skull with two tusks the next morning, according to Desmond Bunting, project manager for William Lyon Homes.

Bunting says that the latest analysis of the mammoth, as of April 25, is that its a Mammuthus Meridionalis: Ancestral Mammoth, probably a female,and 800,000 to 1.8 million years old.The only other such species remains found in Southern California were near Death Valley, Victorville, and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

An instant worldwide phenomenon once the news was released, reporters flocked to the site and helicopters hovered overhead. "On April 8, it was the No.2 news story - second only to the Pope's funeral"says Michael Bobeczko, Director of Marketing for Sukut Construction, Inc.

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