34 Million-Year-Old Whale Skull Found In Alabama By 16-Year-Old
Who says digging in your backyard can't lead to a huge discovery?
This Alabama teen discovered an ancient piece of history on her family's property.
According to Live Science, Alabama, high schooler Lindsey Stallworth found remains of a creature believed to have lived 56 million to 33.9 million years ago.
Could you even imagine what Earth looked like back then?
Was it even called Earth in those years?
Live Science says that Lindsey and her teacher discovered a whale skull after a few hours of searching. Gentry told Live Science they initially had "very little idea" of what they had found — other than it being a large vertebrate.
If we have confirmed that ancient whale remains are in Alabama, imagine what else lies beneath the surface.
According to the Encyclopedia of Alabama, our state is actually known for having fossils.
"Alabama’s best-known fossil is its state fossil, Basilosaurus cetoides, an ancient toothed whale, but the state is also home to fossil Paleozoic invertebrates, Pennsylvanian plants, Cretaceous-Tertiary mollusks and vertebrates, and a variety of dinosaurs."
Live Science says that Lindsey and her teacher found the whale skull on her family's timber farm in Monroe County as part of a summer school project.
There could be more remains in that same location but it's going to take a while to find out.
"Right now, we only have the skull, but we uncovered several postcranial elements during the excavation of the skull which indicate that more of the skeleton is present," Gentry said. "We will know more next summer!"
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