A Bone-a-fide Discovery

What if we told you that an Ice Age fossil was found in a Parkland County sports park? That’s exactly what happened last year when Julian Caners discovered a horse tooth fossil during soccer practice at the Meridian Sports Park. 

Julian and his twin sister were rushing off to soccer practice when Julian found a fossil in the parking lot. When they returned home, Julian’s parents, Richard and Lisa, closely inspected the fossil and had no doubt that their son had come across a significant find.

“Our family was thrilled by the find,” says Richard, “especially due to its size and the fact that it was clearly a herbivore’s tooth.”
According to Richard, his children have a penchant for collecting fossils. “Our kids have always loved hunting for rocks, fossils and other natural history objects when we’re out in nature.”

Their keen interest in fossils might not be completely random, especially since Richard works as a Curator of Botany (plant sciences) at the Royal Alberta Museum. The next day, Richard brought the fossil to his colleague Christina Barron-Ortiz for consultation.

After sending the fossil for lab testing, Barron Ortiz discovered the significance of Julian’s find. By using radiocarbon dating, the lab determined that the fossil was older than 45,000 years. According to Barron-Ortiz, about 20,000 years ago, North America (as well as Northern Europe and parts of Asia) were covered in massive ice sheets. This time period is known as the Last Glacial Maximum.

But why was the fossil found in a sports park? Naturally, the answer lies in the ground. The Meridian Sports Park is near a gravel pit and gravel pits often overlie ancient river systems. Over time, rivers weather fossils and break down animal bones, leaving glimpses into our earth’s past.

Fortunately, the tooth was so well-preserved that Barron-Ortiz and her team were able to extract collagen for further testing. “Horse DNA,” you might think to yourself, “so what?” But this is not just any horse. Barron-Ortiz says that the horse would have belonged to a group of horses known as the caballine horses, or true horses. 

From analyzing other fossils in the Edmonton area, there was another group of horses in North America. The caballine horses migrated to Eurasia, shielding them from the grisly extinction their North American cousins experienced. Barron-Ortiz has yet to learn more about the tooth and plans to analyze the chemical composition of the tooth to learn more about the plants the horse ate and what its environment would have looked like.

You might not find a horse tooth fossil when you’re out running for groceries. But as you go about your day-to-day life, take a moment to pause and visualize what Parkland County might have looked like millions of years ago. Who knows what kind of fascinating fossils and bones are lying beneath your feet?

Photo credits:

Matthew Sawchuk, Royal Alberta Museum (top)

Kelsie Hagglund, Royal Alberta Museum (bottom left)

Richard Caners (bottom middle and right)