Millions of Fossils Discovered While Building a High School in Los Angeles

Year after year, students walk the halls of San Pedro High School in Los Angeles.

What seemed like a normal renovation turned into an extraordinary discovery when a treasure trove of ancient fossils was uncovered.

There are millions of fossils that make up that excavated since the first one was discovered in early 2023.

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“San Pedro High School originally consisted of a 1936 campus building surrounding a central courtyard,” Dr. Wayne Bischoff, director of cultural resources for Envicom Corporation, told Fox News Digital via email. “The courtyard has not been significantly affected since the school was built, but a number of important additions are planned as part of the 2021 construction project.”

“While working in the yard in early 2023, I discovered large numbers of fossil bones from the Late Miocene period (8.7 million years ago) that were buried in the limestone blocks being removed. Envicom worked with LAUSD and Pinner Construction the following year to record and salvage the fossil blocks as excavation continued.”

“This is one of the largest collections of fossil bones ever found in California,” Bischoff said.

Many remarkable fossils have been excavated from the Los Angeles site.

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A number of the fossils belong to species that no longer exist today and that lived at a time when the Palos Verdes Peninsula was submerged.

“The discoveries that attracted the most attention were a number of teeth from the small megalodon shark – the largest shark ever found – the jawbones of a sharp-toothed salmon, sea turtle bones, baleen whale vertebrae, seabird bones, several dolphin bones including the back of a dolphin skull and dolphin ear bones, and fossilized dolphin feces, which contained dozens of small fish bones,” Bischoff said.

Several shark teeth were found during the excavations, including one belonging to the megalodon, the largest shark ever found. (Dr. Wayne Bischoff, Invicom)

Many of the fish species found have never been recorded in Southern California before, Bischoff added.

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The discovery of these fossils was not only exciting for scientists, but also provided a unique hands-on learning opportunity for students.

“The students were not allowed into the active construction site, but they helped us in the lab sort and identify fossils and shells from our collection,” Bischoff told Fox News Digital.

Experts say the discovery will have great educational value for students. (Dr. Wayne Bischoff, Invicom)

“Students will play a greater role in the future as we enter a new phase of discovery, which will include creating educational displays, murals and displaying some of the recovered fossils,” Bischoff added.

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Currently, the fossils found are kept at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

There are also smaller collections at LAUSD and at the Cabrillo Aquarium, with large amounts of fossils currently at California State University in the Channel Islands, Bischoff said.