ICE AGE MAMMOTH, BISON AND OTHER FOSSILS FOUND AT CONSTRUCTION SITE IN SAN DIEGO 

ICE AGE MAMMOTH, BISON AND OTHER FOSSILS FOUND AT CONSTRUCTION SITE IN SAN DIEGO

  
Ice Age fossils of Columbian 

Mammoth, Bison and horses have been found during grading at a construction site in Carlsbad, California. After the surprise find, the developer Cornerstone Communities of San Diego stopped working at the site to carefully remove the fossils. The team led by project superintendent John Suster noticed the fossils during the construction work and notified San Diego Natural History Museum.

The fossils were discovered in July and Tom Deméré, curator of paleontology at the museum, is working with his team, expecting to find more fossils in the region. Deméré informed that the fossils belong to animals who might have lived during the Pleistocene Epoch or last Ice Age.
There were a dozen of fossils including Columbian Mammoth, horses, turtles and a bison. The team also found a partial bison skeleton at the site. Deméré said that the bison skull and skeleton will be displayed at the museum.

Ice Age fossils of Columbian Mammoth, Bison and horses have been found during grading at a construction site in Carlsbad, California. After the surprise find, the developer Cornerstone Communities of San Diego stopped working at the site to carefully remove the fossils. The team led by project superintendent John Suster noticed the fossils during the construction work and notified San Diego Natural History Museum.
The fossils were discovered in July and Tom Deméré, curator of paleontology at the museum, is working with his team, expecting to find more fossils in the region. Deméré informed that the fossils belong to animals who might have lived during the Pleistocene Epoch or last Ice Age.
There were a dozen of fossils including Columbian Mammoth, horses, turtles and a bison. The team also found a partial bison skeleton at the site. Deméré said that the bison skull and skeleton will be displayed at the museum.

Deméré added, “It’s really an exciting project in terms of the geology and paleontology. The fossils have the potential to tell us a great deal about the climate, the environment, the ecology of that time.”
“I said, `Take your time, this is kind of cool,’” John Suster, the project superintendent for developer Cornerstone Communities of San Diego. Suster’s team helped the paleontologists to carefully remove the fossils from Carlsbad’s Quarry Creek, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
The fossils could be 50,000 to 200,000 years old, according to Demere. Bigger construction projects which require large amounts of earth to be moved are required to have a paleontologist on site as per regulations in California.
Cornerstone CEO Ure Kretowicz said, “It’s a perfect example of how a mass grading operation can still be sensitive to historical and paleontological concerns. We stop everything or go grade another area on the site. Once they’re gone, we start up again.” Kretowicz added that his team has been working closely with paleontologist to recover any fossils carefully.
The grading for the project is undergoing and construction is expected to begin early next year. Cornerstone Communities has plans to build nearly 600 apartments and condos at the location. During the first phase, 88 two-story row homes will be constructed.