12F; Houston County, Georgia
Basilosaurus
&
Smithsonian
National Museum of Natural History
By Thomas Thurman
See the base of this page
For a downloadable Power Point I created for
Houston County Library presentation.
You can edit as needed for classroom use.
Houston County Whales
There are 35 million year old reconstructed whales swimming through the Smithsonian's Sant Ocean Hall.
Some of the bones that make up those reconstruction came from our own Houston County, Georgia.
There are 35 million year old reconstructed whales swimming through the Smithsonian's Sant Ocean Hall.
Some of the bones that make up those reconstruction came from our own Houston County, Georgia.
In September of 1932 miners in Houston County’s Georgia Lime Rock Company lit the fuse to blast the Tivola Limestone. Roads were being built, construction material was needed. The dynamite roared and tons of rock fell like a sheet from the quarry walls.
This was the routine; you blasted, prepared the rock for removal and processing, hauled it out of the quarry, and then you blasted again.
This was the routine; you blasted, prepared the rock for removal and processing, hauled it out of the quarry, and then you blasted again.
As the dust settled the men began sorting through the fresh boulders and rubble when the bones of a monster emerged. A fearsome beast with terrible teeth, great spikes as incisors and shearing, serrated blades for molars. (1) This was the stuff of nightmares.
They’d revealed the 35 million year old fossils of a Basilosaurus cetoides, the Earth’s first great whale. The newspaper called it a Mylodon, but this is no sloth.
They’d revealed the 35 million year old fossils of a Basilosaurus cetoides, the Earth’s first great whale. The newspaper called it a Mylodon, but this is no sloth.
These miners knew this rock intimately. They frequently saw the many discs of ancient sand dollars, they frequently saw tiny bryozoans, scallop shells, sea snail shells, and oyster shells. Every now and then they found an old shark’s tooth.
All in a quarry 150 miles inland from the nearest shoreline.
All in a quarry 150 miles inland from the nearest shoreline.
But these were sturdy Southern men, working men, not easily turned from the task at hand. Thankfully someone was mindful that these old bones and terrible teeth might be of value & interest. Scientists came around from time to time wanting to inspect the fossils the workmen saw daily; such scientists would be interested in these bones and teeth.
While others went back to work some of the men were tasked to collect the bones. They ended up safe in the care of Superintendent H. D. Cobb & Cashier H. D. Palmer.
While others went back to work some of the men were tasked to collect the bones. They ended up safe in the care of Superintendent H. D. Cobb & Cashier H. D. Palmer.
Today
The history of this quarry is long. Back to 1911, Otto Veatch and Lloyd William Stephenson referred to these quarries as “old” in their field report on the Geology of the Coastal Plain of Georgia. (2) They recognized that these sediments were Late Eocene in age. Today they're known to be around 35 million years old.
The history of this quarry is long. Back to 1911, Otto Veatch and Lloyd William Stephenson referred to these quarries as “old” in their field report on the Geology of the Coastal Plain of Georgia. (2) They recognized that these sediments were Late Eocene in age. Today they're known to be around 35 million years old.
It’s actually a series of quarries, some active and some long abandoned as shown in this Google Earth image. The quarries were owned by Medusa in 1986 when Paul Huddlestun created the shown measured section explaining the sediments. For more than a decade now they’ve been owned CEMEX.
Back on 04/Dec/2017 Hank Josey, Burt Carter (Georgia Southwestern) and myself joined Dr. Roger Portell and some of his students from the Florida Museum of Natural History for a day in the Cemex quarry.
We appreciate that Cemex took the time to guide us through and allow us to collect material.
We appreciate that Cemex took the time to guide us through and allow us to collect material.
Back in 1986 Paul Huddlestun and John Hetrick (5) reported that there is roughly 100 feet of overburden covering the Tivola Limestone which must be removed before mining operations can begin. Most of this overburden carries fossils, some a little younger and some significantly younger, but every layer reveals changes over time and shifts in sea levels.
Immediately above the Tivola Limestone is the slightly younger Twiggs Clay Member of the Dry Branch Formation; a dense clay which has also produced basilosaurids. In fact Ziggy, at the Museum of Arts & Sciences in Macon, GA (Section 12 of this website) is a smaller Durodon serratus, a member of the basilosaurid family, which was found in the Twiggs Clay.
Beneath the Tivola Limestone and slightly older, is the Clinchfield Formation. It too has produced fossils from basilosaurids, though no large mass of bones from an individual that I’m aware of. However, the Clinchfield Formation has a prolific history of vertebrate fossils from both marine and terrestrial animals.
The species found that day in 1932 was Basilosaurus cetoides. It was set up as a species by Richard Owen in 1839 and is well known from both the Southeastern USA and Egypt. It’s the state fossil of both Mississippi and Alabama.
The Houston County Tivola Limestone whale now rests at the Smithsonian. This article began when the author stumbled onto the record while reviewing the online records of the Smithsonian collection.
I want to thank;
Dr. Thomas Jorstad of the Smithsonian
National Museum of Natural History
Dr. Bobby Boessenecker
from the College of Charleston,
And
Yolanda Young of the
Perry Branch of the Houston County Public Library.
All three of them assisted with information necessary to unravel this story.
Dr. Thomas Jorstad of the Smithsonian
National Museum of Natural History
Dr. Bobby Boessenecker
from the College of Charleston,
And
Yolanda Young of the
Perry Branch of the Houston County Public Library.
All three of them assisted with information necessary to unravel this story.
Returning to 1932
Georgia Lime Rock Company contacted Geology Professor Leon P. Smith of Wesleyan College in Macon. On 08/Sept/1932 the Houston Home Journal reported; “Professor Smith has two fragments of jawbones of the huge mammal that swam in prehistoric Georgia seas and James McPherson of Columbus Road (Macon) has two others which he promised to show Professor Smith. Teeth roots are imbedded in them, and pieces of crumbled teeth were also found.”
Georgia Lime Rock Company contacted Geology Professor Leon P. Smith of Wesleyan College in Macon. On 08/Sept/1932 the Houston Home Journal reported; “Professor Smith has two fragments of jawbones of the huge mammal that swam in prehistoric Georgia seas and James McPherson of Columbus Road (Macon) has two others which he promised to show Professor Smith. Teeth roots are imbedded in them, and pieces of crumbled teeth were also found.”
Professor Smith certainly recognized the fossils as belonged to a whale, articles state whale repeatedly, but inexplicably; they refer to the animal as a Mylodon. It is in-fact a Basilosaurus cetoides. Mylodon is a genus of ground sloth.
The article reports that at his home on Clayton Street Professor Smith holds “23 sections of vertebrae, several head bones, two large pieces of jawbones with teeth and a large box full of fractions of rib bones.”
The article goes on to state; “Professor Smith has a neck vertebra and a large lower vertebra from near the pelvis, a bone from the base of the skull, a large vertebra from the middle of the back, one very large rib bone and several wooden boxes full of miscellaneous bone fossils.”
“Long bones which extended from the vertebra were seen in the bank above the place from which the other bones were taken and too high to reach without a ladder.” A few days later Smith brought a ladder and collected those too. “He made photographs before removing them because there were likely to come to pieces when removed.” (These pictures are being sought, but to date they have not been located.)
By the size of the vertebrae Smith estimated the length of the Basilosaurus cetoides at 40 feet.
The 08/Sept/1932 article reports; “Several other portions of pre-historic whales have been found in Georgia, including one poking out of the banks of the Flint River at Cordele when the stream was low in 1925. One at a kaolin mine in Dry Branch in the late 1870s. One at Clinchfield about 8 years ago (1924?). The one found in Clinchfield is now at the University of Pennsylvania (as of 1932).”
In 1932 Professor Smith hoped to reconstruct the Basilosaurus and display it in the Wesleyan museum. How these plans went awry is unknown but reconstructing a large fossil is an expensive affair. By at least 1936 the Houston County fossils are in the United States National Museum collection.
This Houston County Whale
Becomes Part of the Foundation for Ancient Whale Research & Education
In 1936 Remington Kellogg published “A Review of Archaeoceti”; a research publication which very quickly became “the” authoritative book on whale fossils. Even today it remains the bedrock of all early whale research and is frequently cited in modern papers.
In 1936 Kellogg was a highly respected American naturalist and the Director of the United States National Museum, which of course, became the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
Becomes Part of the Foundation for Ancient Whale Research & Education
In 1936 Remington Kellogg published “A Review of Archaeoceti”; a research publication which very quickly became “the” authoritative book on whale fossils. Even today it remains the bedrock of all early whale research and is frequently cited in modern papers.
In 1936 Kellogg was a highly respected American naturalist and the Director of the United States National Museum, which of course, became the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
The Houston County whale is permanently housed at the Smithsonian and Kellogg included images of the partial jaws and teeth as Plate 8 of A Review of Archaeoceti. In this way researchers all across the world have access to this Houston County fossil and it has become institutionalized into research over the origins of modern whales.
So if you find yourself in Washington DC stop by and say hello to Basilosaurus cetoides in the Smithsonian NMNH.
NOTE
In a 9/Jan/2019 paper by Manja Voss and others (6) a Basilosaurus isis is reported from Wadi Al Hitan (Valley of the Whales) in Egypt where its stomach contents were also preserved.
Basilosaurus isis is very closely related to Basilosaurus cetoides, their hunting strategies would have been similar.
The stomach of this Egyptian Basilosaurus isis contained a juvenile whale Durodon atrox (See; Section 12; Ziggy & the Museum of Arts & Sciences in Macon, GA) and a Pycnodus mokattamensis, a large species of ray finned fish.
This is interesting as Ziggy, the Durodon serratus fossil at the Museum of Arts & Sciences in Macon, Georgia, also included fossils...
Billy Christy Jr. was preparing for college at the time of the discovery and recovery of Ziggy and actively participated in both. He reported that while cleaning the Twiggs Clay from the fossils in the UGA lab he discovered two and a half small sand shark’s vertebrae stuck to the ribs, and some shark teeth. We don't know species of sand shark; there are several known to occur in the Twiggs Clay. This material has since been lost.
The presence of small shark vertebrae stuck to the Ziggy's ribs could certainly be interpreted as a final meal.
The Egypt report by Voss would seem to support Billy Christy Jr's report.
For the record; Durodon serratus is a smaller species of basilosaurid.
In a 9/Jan/2019 paper by Manja Voss and others (6) a Basilosaurus isis is reported from Wadi Al Hitan (Valley of the Whales) in Egypt where its stomach contents were also preserved.
Basilosaurus isis is very closely related to Basilosaurus cetoides, their hunting strategies would have been similar.
The stomach of this Egyptian Basilosaurus isis contained a juvenile whale Durodon atrox (See; Section 12; Ziggy & the Museum of Arts & Sciences in Macon, GA) and a Pycnodus mokattamensis, a large species of ray finned fish.
This is interesting as Ziggy, the Durodon serratus fossil at the Museum of Arts & Sciences in Macon, Georgia, also included fossils...
Billy Christy Jr. was preparing for college at the time of the discovery and recovery of Ziggy and actively participated in both. He reported that while cleaning the Twiggs Clay from the fossils in the UGA lab he discovered two and a half small sand shark’s vertebrae stuck to the ribs, and some shark teeth. We don't know species of sand shark; there are several known to occur in the Twiggs Clay. This material has since been lost.
The presence of small shark vertebrae stuck to the Ziggy's ribs could certainly be interpreted as a final meal.
The Egypt report by Voss would seem to support Billy Christy Jr's report.
For the record; Durodon serratus is a smaller species of basilosaurid.
References;
1. Pre-Historic Whale Bones Found In Mine Near Perry; Houston Home Journal, Perry, GA, Thursday, 8/Sept/1932, Reprint from The Macon Telegraph (No author credited)
2. Preliminary Report on the Geology of the Coastal Plain of Georgia, Otto Veatch & Lloyd Williams Stephenson, Bulletin 26 of the Georgia Geologic Survey, 1911.
3. Kellogg, Remington; A Review of the Archaeoceti, Carnegie Institution, Pub. 20, Published 1936.
4. Perry Whale Fossil Only One of Kind in N. America, Houston Home Journal, Perry, GA, Thursday, 3/November/1932 (No author credited)
5. Upper Eocene Stratigraphy of Central & Eastern Georgia, Paul F. Huddlestun & John H Hetrick, Bulletin 95, Page 24, Georgia Geologic Survey, 1986
6. Stomach Contents of the Archaeocete Basilosaurus isis; Apex Predator in the Oceans of the Late Eocene: Manja Voss, Mohammed Sameh M. Antar, Iyad S. Zalmout, Philip D. Gingerich; Jan 9, 2019 in the online journal Plos One; journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0209021&fbclid=IwAR0bsDL4PG94MVnuZacAIAfcZPA5JMXNCqRy_mPoKL75JXKWysP7g6lCBL0
1. Pre-Historic Whale Bones Found In Mine Near Perry; Houston Home Journal, Perry, GA, Thursday, 8/Sept/1932, Reprint from The Macon Telegraph (No author credited)
2. Preliminary Report on the Geology of the Coastal Plain of Georgia, Otto Veatch & Lloyd Williams Stephenson, Bulletin 26 of the Georgia Geologic Survey, 1911.
3. Kellogg, Remington; A Review of the Archaeoceti, Carnegie Institution, Pub. 20, Published 1936.
4. Perry Whale Fossil Only One of Kind in N. America, Houston Home Journal, Perry, GA, Thursday, 3/November/1932 (No author credited)
5. Upper Eocene Stratigraphy of Central & Eastern Georgia, Paul F. Huddlestun & John H Hetrick, Bulletin 95, Page 24, Georgia Geologic Survey, 1986
6. Stomach Contents of the Archaeocete Basilosaurus isis; Apex Predator in the Oceans of the Late Eocene: Manja Voss, Mohammed Sameh M. Antar, Iyad S. Zalmout, Philip D. Gingerich; Jan 9, 2019 in the online journal Plos One; journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0209021&fbclid=IwAR0bsDL4PG94MVnuZacAIAfcZPA5JMXNCqRy_mPoKL75JXKWysP7g6lCBL0
Download powerpoint below
| georgiasfossilshoustoncountylibrary.pptx |
PDF files of the original newspaper pages.
| 2_whale_houston_county_8sept1932.pdf |
| 1_whale_houston_county_13nov1932.pdf |