A local heavy equipment operator made the find of a lifetime when he spotted a horn core from an Ice Age bison during recent excavation for the bridge project that will cross the Athabasca River.

Rory Couturier won’t be able to keep the fossil that he found May 16, but it does represent a significant find for the region, says paleontologist Dr. Paul McNeil as there have only been four or five similar finds along the Athabasca River.

“In terms of northeastern Alberta, these fossils are extremely rare. In the research we did beforehand, we found that there were only four or five known Ice Age mammal fossils that had been found along the Athabasca River. Not only are they rare, but there isn’t a lot of development in the area, so there’s less chance to find them as they’re excavated,” said Dr.McNeil.

It might seem like finding a needle in a haystack, but according to Dr. McNeil, who runs Steppe Consulting Inc., there were some signs that told them what they needed to look out for.

“In this case, it started with the design of the bridge as it has to get a historical resource permit. Any big project in Alberta has to be cleared for historical resources, be it archaeology or paleontology,” said Dr. McNeil, who did his doctoral work at the University of Calgary. “At that stage, we did a pre-construction visit to analyze the site, and realized the potential for finding Ice Age fossils in the deposits above the Athabasca River.”

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