Overview
- Construction crews uncovered multiple limb bones, ribs and fragments about 12 feet below ground during routine work this month, prompting the site to be secured.
- Consulting paleontologist Dr. Joseph El Adli led a careful multi‑day rescue that chiselled fossils from hard mudstone and encased them in plaster field jackets for safe transport.
- Paleontologists say the material comes from Member C of the Santiago Formation and dates to the Uintan stage of the Eocene, roughly 40 to 45 million years ago.
- Specimens are now in a Carlsbad laboratory for preparation and study, and experts say a definitive identification depends on further cleaning and the possible recovery of skull or teeth.
- The City of Oceanside is withholding the exact site for safety and preservation, and the fossils are expected to enter a museum collection for scientific study and public display, reflecting how Southern California construction often yields important paleontological finds.