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Extinct whale fossil unearthed at Crimean Bridge construction site

The fossilized bones are ten million-year-old

© Crimean Bridge construction website

SIMFEROPOL, August 17. /TASS/. Ten million-year-old fossils of a whale have been unearthed during archeological works at a section of a future railway approach to the Crimean Bridge across Kerch Strait, the Crimean Bridge press center said on Friday.

"Skeleton fragments - the spine bone and ribs - were dug out during archeological excavations preceding the construction of a railway section approaching the Crimean Bridge," the press center said.

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The fossilized bones were found at a depth of about one meter from the surface. Paleontologists believe these are the bones of a cetotherium, a primitive extinct baleen whale. These creatures, measuring more than 30 meters in length, lived in mid-Miocene to early Pliocene.

The cetotherium founded at the Crimean Bridge construction side was five meters long. It lived in the Sarmat Sea, which took a large territory in present-day Eastern Europe, including the Kerch Peninsula, in ancient times.

Paleontologists say it was good luck to find an almost intact ancient whale skeleton. "The skull bones have not survived but the vertebral column from the thoracic spine to the caudal peduncle is intact. All the fragments belong to the same animal. Such finds rarely happen. The bone structure is well seen. It will make it possible to study the fossil very thoroughly to learn more about the ancient animal," Dmitry Startsev of the Zoology Museum of the Crimean Federal University, said.

After the fossilized bones are studied by scientists, they will be exhibited at a Crimean museum.

According to the press center, the Crimean Bridge and rail and motor roads leading to it are being built in the region with a unique history and it is of major importance to preserve its cultural heritage. Construction works were preceded by a large-scale archeological survey of an area of more than 500 hectares, which has yielded more than 100,000 artefacts.

The 19-kilometer long Crimean Bridge, the longest one in Russia, links the Taman Peninsula and the Kerch Peninsula. The bridge’s motorway section was inaugurated in May, with President Vladimir Putin taking part in the opening ceremony. The railway section is expected to be opened in 2019.

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