Nearly 300-million-year-old fossil found on Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island resident Anne MacFadyen was walking on the beach near her home in Nine Mile Creek on Wednesday when she discovered a fossil dating back approximately 290 million years.

We were walking on the beach, and when I looked down and I saw this little paw, so I picked it up. I was like, “oh, that’s cute.” I wasn’t expecting much.

She quickly shared her discovery on social media.

It looked like a skeleton, somehowshe adds.

A rare discovery

The provincial archaeologist of Prince Edward Island, Christian Thériault, confirms that this is a fairly rare discovery.

Normally, it is mostly footprints that are found on the island, instead of the remains of the animal itself.

The piece found at Nine Mile Creek was analyzed by the paleontologist John Calder of the University Saint Mary’s of Nova Scotia.

This quarter-sized fossil dates back to the Permian period, before the dinosaurs.

Christian Thériault explains that a team of experts visited the region of Nine Mile Creek following the discovery and she is due to return there this week in the hope of finding more fossils.

It is very likely that the rest of the animal is on the ground, under the sand or in the seahe said.

Exposed sites

Christian Thériault recalls that fossil discoveries are becoming more and more common on the island.

It is with especially with erosion in recent years, there are many archaeological and paleontological sites which are exposedexplains this archaeologist.

In 1995 and in 2022, similar discoveries were made in the Cape Egmont region.

Christian Thériault adds that the province is evaluating ways to better store these fossils and exhibit them to the public, particularly in partnership with the Island Museum Foundation.

Any fossil discovery must be communicated to the province so that the piece can be analyzed and protected for conservation purposes.

With information from Anthony Davis, CBC