"The fact that millions of fossils have been unearthed on this site has led to a new era of concentrative studies that will bring notoriety to this community and this high school," Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said.
The fossils found beneath the campus include those of whales, fish and megalodon sharks that date back to 9 million years ago. They were uncovered during the school's modernization construction project, which began in 2022.
"We believe there was a submarine channel that was carrying material down from shallower water into deeper water and volcanism going on somewhere in the vicinity," said Dr. Austin Hendy, assistant curator at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. "This was a big surprise to everybody when they started digging these trenches to unearth these fish fossils."
"We realized we had millions of bones from sea creatures of all sorts, mostly fish, but also sea mammals, sea turtles, shorebirds, kelp and other types of seaweed and invertebrates like shells and stuff all in one place," said Dr. Wayne Bischoff, director of cultural resources at Envicom Corporation. "And it represents an entire ecology of the ocean 9 millions of years ago."
The discovery has also sparked the interest of many students who were shocked to learn that prehistoric life once lived beneath their feet.
"I thought this stuff was something that never happens especially around here," student Taya Olson said. "It only happens in textbooks"
"They needed someone from here to help with it and I've always wanted to work at the museum. So as soon as the opportunity came up, I seized it and it's just been amazing," said Milad Esfahani, an intern at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
The research team said they have discovered over 200 species so far, but it's going to take another year before they can unveil all of the fossils.