There has certainly been a lot of interesting things dug up in preparation for construction recently, including a 121 year old time capsule and a mass burial site (yikes). This time, contractors have uncovered dozen of Ice Age fossils that are between 50,000 to 200,000 years old.
San Diego Contractor Cornerstone Communities was developing a 636 unit subdivision in Carlsbad, California when Pleistocene Epoch, aka the ice age, fossils were discovered. Among the fossils found so far are a skull and partial skeleton of either a giant bison or antique bison, wooly mammoth bones, and parts of antique horses and turtles.
Here's a tweet by the company that shows one of the bones still in the ground:
TREASURE TROVE OF FOSSILS FOUND AT CARLSBAD CONSTRUCTION SITE http://t.co/vxC53gFOZQ via @sdut pic.twitter.com/KRGzUebcCp
— Cornerstone (@HomeCornerstone) September 8, 2015According to the San Diego Union Tribune, the was a long debate over the development of the land, because of this possibility, but the Carlsbad City Council eventually approved the plans after the size of the project decreased. The state of California also requires that a paleontologist be on site when large amount of dirt are moved. All work in the area is required to stop when a possible fossil is found. The paleontologist on site then makes a plaster mold of the fossil and then removes it.
The video below is from Fox 5 news in San Diego, which shows you the process the paleontologists go through after they get the fossils to their laboratory.
Construction reveals trove of fossils in Carlsbad | San Diego Union Tribune
Ice Age fossils found at Carlsbad construction site | Fox 5 News