12E; The Redmond Mandible
Of Albany, GA
By Thomas Thurman
Of Albany, GA
By Thomas Thurman
Al Redmond of Albany, Georgia contacted me in September of 2016 about identifying and dating local sediments he’d encountered along the area’s streams and rivers. We exchanged a few emails and I shared Paul Huddlestun’s research publications from the Georgia Geologic Survey.
Redmond, an enthusiast amateur, was making observations in the Late Eocene’s Ocala Group limestones, Priabonian Stage (Jacksonian); material roughly 33.9 to 36.6 million years old.
He attended the 5/August/2017 meeting of the Paleontology Association of Georgia at Thornateeska Heritage Center in Albany where we had a few minutes to chat and he showed myself, Hank Josey, Bill Montante, Ashley Quinn, Burt Carter, and David Schwimmer some of the material he’d collected, invertebrate & vertebrate; all of it coming from area’s Ocala Group limestones.
When we had a few minutes alone he asked if I could help identify a large mandible he’d recovered but hadn’t brought to the meeting. It’d come from the same sediments.
I was pleasantly surprised by the 23/August/2017 pictures he’d forwarded and with Al’s permission I share them here.
A query sent to Dr. Mark Uhen at George Mason University, an internationally known lead researcher in whale evolution specializing in Basilosaurids, confirmed my suspicions.
Redmond, an enthusiast amateur, was making observations in the Late Eocene’s Ocala Group limestones, Priabonian Stage (Jacksonian); material roughly 33.9 to 36.6 million years old.
He attended the 5/August/2017 meeting of the Paleontology Association of Georgia at Thornateeska Heritage Center in Albany where we had a few minutes to chat and he showed myself, Hank Josey, Bill Montante, Ashley Quinn, Burt Carter, and David Schwimmer some of the material he’d collected, invertebrate & vertebrate; all of it coming from area’s Ocala Group limestones.
When we had a few minutes alone he asked if I could help identify a large mandible he’d recovered but hadn’t brought to the meeting. It’d come from the same sediments.
I was pleasantly surprised by the 23/August/2017 pictures he’d forwarded and with Al’s permission I share them here.
A query sent to Dr. Mark Uhen at George Mason University, an internationally known lead researcher in whale evolution specializing in Basilosaurids, confirmed my suspicions.
28/August/2017
Thomas,
Well, it is Basilosaurus or Cynthiacetus sized.
The proportions of the trunk vertebrae would distinguish between the two.
Dr. Mark Uhen
George Mason University
Uhen Lab
uhenlab.weebly.com/
28/August/2017
Thomas,
Well, it is Basilosaurus or Cynthiacetus sized.
The proportions of the trunk vertebrae would distinguish between the two.
Dr. Mark Uhen
George Mason University
Uhen Lab
uhenlab.weebly.com/
As you see, the Redmond Mandible is a prize specimen.
I look forward to a day in the field with Al and visiting a few sites he’s come to know.
I look forward to a day in the field with Al and visiting a few sites he’s come to know.