Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Dispatches from the field: Baja California, Pt. 6

After a day in La Purísima we were ready to keep digging at the bonebed we found several days ago.
Fernando (on the left) works on some cetacean bones, while Daryl (center) and Ehecatl (to the right of Daryl) remove sediment from around some sirenian bones. Larry (upper right) removes overburden.

As you can see in the image above, bones are sometimes jumbled together. Here's are two dugongid sirenian ribs and an atlas.

One of the most interesting finds of the day was this crocodylian cervical vertebra that I found. We started to find croc teeth around some of the sirenian bones. Then latter on this vertebra, some big kind of croc was lurking in Baja California during the early Miocene!


The field team (from left to right: Gerardo, Larry, Daryl, Fernando and Ehecatl) pose in front of a concentration of sirenian bones that we are preparing to jacket in the next couple of days. This so far, has been the most productive locality.




For past entries of this series:






Dispatches from the field: Baja California, Pt. 5

Fieldwork in Baja California was made possible through an NSF EAR grant to D. P. Domning & L. G. Barnes. The text in these posts reflect my own opinion and not those of the granting agency or institutions to which I’m affiliated.

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