An enormous fossil was excavated last month from the banks of Potomac River. The fossil was believed to have existed a long time ago, even before the country’s recorded history.
According to John Nance, the paleontology collections manager at the Calvert Marine Museum in Southern Maryland, the fossil which they have identified as a whale’s skull is roughly 15 million years old.
Dug up in July from the precipice at the edge of the Potomac on the grounds of Stratford Hall, the fossil is more or less 6 feet long and weighs 1,000 pounds.
Stratford’s spokesperson Jim Schepmoes said to the Washington Post, “The eroding river bank where the fossil was found is one of the world’s few Miocene cliffs.” Apparently, the area where it was found is acknowledged to be rich in marine fossils but this whale skull is unique because of it is still intact.
“But to have such a large and complete specimen is pretty uncommon,” Nance continued. “In a marine environment, the bones are usually scavenged and scattered all about. The really interesting thing is we have all the post-cranial material — the vertebrae, the ribs, the flipper bones. It will give us a more complete picture of what these animals looked like.”
Jon Bachman, a Stratford Hall member and fossil hunter, discovered the first signs of the whale skull while strolling along the beach in June. Since then, staff members of the Calvert facility continuously work nearby by digging with hand tools like putty knives and picks. They were amazed with how the fossil gets bigger each day.
On July 20, when the relic surfaced from the cliff face, it was wrapped in plaster and burlap and lashed to metal poles. About a dozen people lifted it into a boat so that it can be brought to the Westmoreland State Park boat ramp. It was then moved to the museum.
The scientists used the Calvert Formation system to determine the age of the fossil. Scientists have been mapping this type of analysis for over 100 years which relates the fossils to the layers of rock, dirt and sediment in the geographical location. This makes it possible to establish the age of a fossil in relation to where it is discovered.
Based on the skull size and shape, the remnant was identified to be an extinct family type of whales-- a baleen whale. Yet, it would be akin to a modern-day minke whale. Allegedly, the fossil may be over 25 feet long when it was still alive.
However, staff members will continue digging for the other parts this week to fully determine the whale’s species.
