Fossilized bones may reveal complete specimen: Cal paleontologist, "find resembles ancient elephant"

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | Thursday, July 14, 2005 | Maria Alicia Gaura

[nickcarraway]

UC Berkeley paleontologist Mark Goodwin said Wednesday the bones discovered Saturday by environmental watchdog Roger Castillo may be the femur, tusks and pelvic bones of a Columbian mammoth, a species of ancient elephant that roamed Silicon Valley tens of thousands of years ago.

UC Berkeley's Museum of Paleontology has a mammoth pelvis and some assorted teeth and bones found at other South Bay sites, Goodwin said. But the generous scattering of bones atop the ground at the San Jose site Goodwin visited Wednesday may indicate a more complete specimen.

"If these are tusks here, there's a good chance that there's a skull in the ground," Goodwin mused, after briefly examining the fossil bones. "Is it a mammoth? That's what it's looking like to me."

Goodwin said he would begin assembling a team of graduate students to excavate the site, with the aim of extracting the bones before winter rains rinse more of the skeleton downstream.

But the more immediate threat to the fossil find is the horde of curious visitors who have trampled the site since the discovery was made public. Photographer and amateur fossil hunter David Gurley, a teacher at Mount Eden High School in Hayward, was horrified when he hiked to the site at noon Tuesday to find a television news crew standing atop the exposed bones, looking for a good camera angle.

Gurley shooed the news crew off the bones and summoned two friends to bring camping gear, stakes and yellow plastic tape to secure the area. They set up camp and were later joined by a water district security guard, Gurley said.

Their vigilance paid off, Gurley said, as they were able to prevent some visitors from further trampling the area.

[nickcarraway]

ping

[RadioAstronomer]

ping

[PatrickHenry]

Thanks, but I don't see any new scientific information here, so as we say in the evo thread business: "It's just another mammoth fossil." No ping to the list.

[VeniVidiVici]

a species of ancient elephant that roamed Silicon Valley tens of thousands of years ago.

Proof that the Kennedy forebearers were in America long ago.

[martin_fierro]

I already killed one thread.

[Frank_2001]

Ugh! Don't associate our GOP mascot with those Kennedys...now if they found evidence of ancient jackasses, on the other hand...;)

[EggsAckley]

[GladesGuru]

"Proof that the Kennedy forebearers were in America long ago."

Your proof fails - the sobriety test of the day would have kept the Kennedy clan away. There is zero evidence indicative of hard liquor being invented anywhere that long ago.

No liquor - No Kennedy clan.

And there were no bridges, cars, or interns back then either. Come to think of it, playing football on skis hadn't been invented then either.

And I am quite convinced there were no small planes in the air back then. ;-)

[moog]

a species of ancient elephant that roamed Silicon Valley tens of thousands of years ago. Proof that the Kennedy forebearers were in America long ago.

I thought it was one of those Michael Mooremoths.

[null and void]

What do you think preserved the specimen?

[GOP_1900AD]

I've found a few (smaller) bones digging out terraces in the back yard (Santa Cruz Mtn foothills) that I've wondered about. Probably just from cattle or deer, but then again ... hmmmmmm!

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Nick.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)