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Bone likely that of prehistoric horse
By ADRIENNE P. SAMUELS
Published February 25, 2005
ST. PETERSBURG - Construction workers were laying storm pipe two weeks ago at the St. Petersburg College Gibbs campus when they discovered a bone in the dirt.
They thought it might be human. But closer inspection by experts revealed it to be part of a horse's foot - a very old horse's foot, estimated between 11,000 and 8-million years old.
After the bone was turned over to the college, work was temporarily halted while school officials called around the state to determine the historical significance of the discovery. Because the bone was found in dirt likely transported from south of the Sunshine Skyway, SPC was quickly given the go-ahead to resume construction.
Finding an intact fossil inside a landfill is remarkable, said Richard Hulbert, an expert on fossilized horses who manages a collection at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville.
Paul Cutlip, SPC's resident paleontologist, agrees. "Horses, since they live on land, are much less likely to make it into the fossil chain, unlike a clam or a snail. The horse bone will become part of a college exhibit.
[Last modified February 25, 2005, 00:51:16]
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