Time Traveling With Clam Fossils
Back when what is now Monterey Bay lay hundreds of feet below the ocean, there was a clam.
The clam lived. It grew to about 4 centimeters across. It died. And that was that—until eight or 10 million years later, when, last month, a road construction crew dug up its likeness preserved deep in the Monterey mudstone and called Wayne Thompson.
With trusty dental picks and tiny brushes, Thompson carefully unearthed the clam print, which was not in good enough condition to determine the species. Thompson has been studying fossils around Monterey Bay for over fifty years, and is CEO of Pacific Paleontology, which helps cities and construction companies avoid destroying fossils lurking belowground.