Rare 35 million-year-old turtle fossil discovered in church pillar

Rare 35 million-year-old turtle fossil discovered in earthquake-damaged church pillar in Christchurch

Monday, April 12th, 2021

Christchurch sculptor Paul Deans was searching through limestone pillars from an earthquake-damaged church when he uncovered a turtle fossil believed to be about 35 million years old.

The pre-historic fossil was embedded in the limestone core of a pillar from the Oxford Terrace Baptist Church, which was built between 1881 and 1882 in central Christchurch.

After the historical church was demolished in 2011 after being damaged in the Canterbury earthquakes its pillars were hollowed out so they could be reinforced and reinstated as part of the new building, which opened on Christmas Day in 2017. Read more

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News category: New Zealand, News Shorts.

Tags: Oxford Terrace Baptist Church, Turtle fossil

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