Fossil ‘ecosystem’ discovered under school, including saber-toothed salmon and megalodon
Scientists from the United States report an extraordinary archaeological discovery. The remains of prehistoric creatures were unearthed under a school in Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles Times reported on Friday, September 13, that the excavations in two locations under the San Pedro High School campus have yielded rare fossils. Among them were those that included the remains of a “sabertooth” salmon, as the creature is informally known, and a megalodon, a giant shark from the past.
Success at Los Angeles dig
The discoveries were made between June 2022 and July 2024. They included an 8.7-million-year-old bone from the Miocene period and a 120,000-year-old shell from the Pleistocene period. In a statement sent to the Los Angeles Times, scientists have already tested the chemical and mineral composition of the fossils.
“We were able to find clues and put them together,” said geologist Richard Behl of California State University, Long Beach. He explained that the oldest finds were preserved in diatomite, a sedimentary rock formed by the fossilization of single-cell algae. According to Behl, this indicates that algae were abundant in the area, which allowed for a rich ecosystem with numerous sea creatures.
Los Angeles Excavations: “A Whole Ecosystem”
Wayne Bischoff of Envicom Corporation emphasized that they managed to find “a whole ecosystem from a time long gone.” “We have all this material to help future researchers organize their knowledge of the ecology of 9 million years ago. That’s really rare,” he emphasized.
Austin Hendy of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County pointed out another aspect. According to him, scientists believe they have discovered an underwater channel that transported material from shallow water to greater depths, and somewhere nearby there were additional volcanic processes.
“It was a big surprise for everyone when the excavations began to discover these fossils,” he added. According to the Los Angeles Times, the unearthed priceless rocks were distributed among educational institutions in the region. It was emphasized that they would benefit not only higher education, but also the community centered around the high school where the discoveries were made.
