Panama Canal Expansion
Thursday, June 25, 2009 13:05
Panama Canal expansion - and archaeologist’s dream
The recent unearthing of a set of fossil teeth, from the print Panama Canal earthworks has been described as belonging to what is classified as Anchitherium clarencei, a three toed browsing horse. The discovery has been claimed as one of the most complete fossils of a horse, uncovered at the site in the last century. Furthermore this discovery confirms two previous similar findings in the region, with the evidence supporting the theory of Bruce J McFadden, that the region was primarily dense forest and open woodland, where these animals roamed between 15 and 18 million years ago.
But finding furthermore extends the habitat of this forest dwelling animal from where previous evidence was uncovered, in Florida, South Dakota and Nebraska much further south to Panama, as per the recent findings.
The expansion of the Panama Canal has facilitated the work of geologists and paleontologists, who work in the area after blasting in an attempt to salvage, collect and map any fossil findings. This process has enabled the scientists to address many uncertainties in terms of the species that roamed the area millions of years ago.
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