Of all of the news history about Salesforce Transit Center and Maria Ayerdi Kaplan, perhaps the most fascinating one involves, of all things, a Columbian Mammoth Tooth. That’s right: a part of a Columbian mammoth that lived between 8,000 and 150,000 years ago and was approximately 12-14 feet tall, weighing between five and 10 tons.
On September 10, 2012, crane operator, Brandon Valasik, on the Transbay Transit Center jobsite in downtown San Francisco, found the fossil tooth. It was reportedly 110 feet below street level and 100 feet below sea level, and was immediately recognized by Valasik as something unusual.
“Finding the mammoth tooth on our construction site was one of the most exciting and memorable historical events of our project. We are simultaneously preserving our history while building for the future.” said then-Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA) Executive Director Maria Ayerdi Kaplan. “We applaud the California Academy of Sciences for placing the mammoth tooth on display for the public to view and learn about downtown San Francisco’s natural history.”
The TJPA donated the tooth to the California Academy of Sciences on September 20, where it was cleaned, preserved, and added to the research fossil collection. The tooth is an upper left molar of a Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) and was discovered in two pieces; the front third of the tooth was missing.
Stay tuned.
Maria Ayerdi Kaplan, Developer Of Salesforce Transit Center: Her Story as told to Zennie62Media. > Part One > Part Two > Part Three > Part Four > Part Five > Part Six > Part Seven > Part Eight.
Zennie Abraham is Zennie62Media, Inc. CEO and Zenophon Abraham Zennie62 YouTube Channel vlogger, and pioneer African-American creator of Oakland News Now Blog and Zennie62Media’s 100-blog network. He’s covered the NFL, San Diego Comic Con, The Night of 100 Stars Oscars Party, The NFL Draft, and CES Las Vegas annually , and for more than 10 years. Zennie created Oakland’s first true blog, Oakland Focus, and Oakland’s first YouTube Partner Channel Zennie62, and now Oakland’s only news blog aggregator, OaklandNewsOnline.com . Zennie also holds the distinction of forming Oakland’s only bid to host the NFL’s Super Bowl Game, in 2000 for the 2005 game that Jacksonville won the right to host. He’s also the founder of Sports Business Simulations and the creator of The Oakland Baseball Simworld and XFL Simworld. Zennie was born in Chicago on August 4th, 1962. A proud graduate of Bret Harte Jr. High, and Skyline High School, He’s lived in Oakland since April 8th of 1974. He has an undergraduate degree from Texas-Arlington and a Masters Degree from U.C. Berkeley, both in City Planning with a focus on urban economics and public finance. Zennie is an expert in system dynamics modeling.