Scientists dig rare fossil

30 million-year-old leatherback unearthed from Summerville ditch

Paul Martin/Staff

Vance McCollum works to clear the dig site and define the shape of a 30 million-year- old leatherback turtle fossil in a ditch behind Brandymill subdivision Thursday in Summerville.

What's more shocking than finding a sea turtle in Summerville?

Finding out it's been there for 30 million years.

Paleontologists from the South Carolina State Museum unearthed the reptile Thursday from a drainage ditch. The find is considered one of the most significant in the state's natural history.

"What's neat about this turtle is you can see how much of it is still sitting there, still associated, still together," said Jim Knight, chief curator of natural history at the museum, who led the dig. "You just never find one like that. That's just amazing to me. This is the best one I've ever seen."

Slowly, a beige shell began to emerge from the earth as volunteers kept digging. The fossil was about 4 feet long and 3 feet wide, with an intricate scale pattern and three ridges going down the back.

The U.S. Geological Survey used uranium-thorium dating to determine the approximate age of the reptile, which swam around Charleston during the Oligocene epoch, when the shoreline was farther north.

The turtle belongs to the now-extinct Psephophorus s.p. turtle genus, related to the modern-day leatherback turtle. But knowledge of the genus is spotty at best because scientists usually find only little pieces of shell. Knight said that's why he's particularly excited to get a complete specimen, saying it will help to shed light on the mysterious genus.

Freelance graphics designer Paul Bailey co-founded the Lowcountry Fossil Club six years ago and often goes around with a metal stick, prodding for fossils.

Then, one day in late May, while searching around a drainage ditch behind Brandymill subdivision in Summerville, Bailey struck lightning.

"I started to slowly dig it out ... just to get a small piece," Bailey said. "So I kept digging until I realized it was a complete shell. And then that's when I got excited."

When Bailey first discovered the animal and realized he couldn't dig it out alone, he got in touch with Vance McCollum, a fellow club member who also volunteers for the State Museum as a field liaison. The club waited anxiously for paleontologists to arrive, hoping that no curious passers-by would disturb their find.

The ditch flowed with ankle-deep water from recent rains as a team of local and state volunteers carefully dug out the muck around the fossil.

"Kids sit out there and say, 'Yeah, I want to be a paleontologist,' " Knight said jokingly as he swung the pickax again into the mud on a humid Lowcountry day.

The team plans to cover the fossil in plaster to protect the outer edge, then flip it over so they can protect the bottom as well for transport.

After scientists have studied it, the fossil eventually will go on display at the State Museum in Columbia.

Reach Lucia Walinchus at lwalinchus@postandcourier.com or 937-5921.