Science

Whale Skull Discovered Last Year in Mass. Is A Lot Older Then First Thought — A Lot

Last year, resort workers in Brewster, Mass., set out to dig a walkway on the beach and in the process stumbled upon an unexpected find. Although it wasn’t what most would consider buried treasure, researchers were excited about the six-foot across, 400-pound whale skull they unearthed.

My Fox Boston reports the skull, initially thought to be only about 30 years old, has now been found to pre-date even the early English settlers. The skull after it was carefully extracted and dried was given to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute researchers who used carbon dating to determine its age as between 1500 and 1650.

Watch the My Fox Boston report with footage of the skull:

CBS Local out of Boston reports Brian Sharp from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which coordinated removal of the skull, said it was “incredibly fragile” and took two days of digging to extract from the sand.

The whale bone will be put on display at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

Watch a crane lift the skull last year in this YouTube video:

Comments (61)

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  • Able
    Posted on July 31, 2012 at 9:48am

    It’s a lot older THAN….not then. The kids today and their spelling. sheesh

    Report Post »  
    • Marcia
      Posted on July 31, 2012 at 10:21am

      The Blaze is excellent, but not in spelling. It’s their downfall and tends to impact their creditability, IMHO. They seriously need to hire a spell and grammar checker.

      Report Post »  
    • Pontiac
      Posted on July 31, 2012 at 8:11pm

      Boy you should of seen me (and a few others) trying to correct an article about gangs in the military. Had all kinds of bigots flaming me and others thinking I was a liberal because The Blaze decided to correct the story after some of our comments. I provided screen shots but they of course they kept replying without reading the evidence…

      Report Post » Pontiac  
    • kegbuna
      Posted on August 2, 2012 at 3:00am

      Heh, what does that tell you about Blaze readers?

      Report Post » kegbuna  
  • FlagWavingPatriot
    Posted on July 31, 2012 at 7:27am

    They found just a skull? No brain?

    Must have been a democrat.

    Report Post »  
    • BuckarooBanzai
      Posted on July 31, 2012 at 9:49am

      Of course it was an empty headed democrat; it was found in MASSACHUSETTS!!

      Report Post »  
  • Doggystyle
    Posted on July 31, 2012 at 2:11am

    Your all wrong. This is clearly onr of Ted Kennedys Girl friends , burried after a drunken night of debauchery!

    Report Post »  
  • ACACIA
    Posted on July 30, 2012 at 11:30pm

    big deal!!!! some one all ready ate the meat

    Report Post »  
  • Snidely
    Posted on July 30, 2012 at 11:06pm

    That’s not a crane. It’s the loader end of a loader-backhoe. #petpeeve

    Report Post » Snidely  
  • chips1
    Posted on July 30, 2012 at 9:58pm

    Mass was once covered in water or else they would have found the whales carbon footprint.

    Report Post »  
    • 4xeverything
      Posted on August 1, 2012 at 5:54am

      It makes me wonder how Obama and Elizabeth Warren are on the same team. I mean Warren’s “peeps” needed that water in order to feed their families (hence the whale skull) and Obama went off and lowered the sea levels. What ya gonna do? ;0)

      Report Post » 4xeverything  
  • wbaranowski
    Posted on July 30, 2012 at 9:52pm

    Excuse me, sir, where’s the rest of it, then? Not even a teensy, weensy little piece besides the head?

    Report Post »  
  • chips1
    Posted on July 30, 2012 at 9:39pm

    As long as they have dug the hole, why don’t we …………………?

    Report Post »  
  • noelgreco
    Posted on July 30, 2012 at 7:04pm

    “Scull [sic]” ??

    Report Post » noelgreco  
  • thegreatcarnac
    Posted on July 30, 2012 at 6:32pm

    The whale skull is not that old. The baseball hat it had on was not rotten at all. Seems the whale was a Yankee fan and it is believed that red sox fans killled him.

    Report Post »  
  • Matt
    Posted on July 30, 2012 at 6:29pm

    Uh, its actually from the future, duh!

    Report Post »  
  • jocko
    Posted on July 30, 2012 at 6:12pm

    Based on the THEORY of carbon dating which has found to wildly inaccurate they think it is that old. Of course C14 varies with the amount of cosmic rays and no one can tell how much they have varied, even over the last 100 years. So, it could be that old, then again, maybe not. Damn indians have killed off over 10,000 large mammal species since they arrived on our continent. Too bad they just couldn’t get along with natural and not kill off those cave bears, wolves, camels and saber tooth tigers.

    For a good analysis of carbon dating… http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aig/aig-c007.html

    Report Post » jocko  
    • loriann12
      Posted on July 31, 2012 at 12:35pm

      I also read that if something spends a significant time UNDER water, carbon dating is not accurate. Unless the whale beached itself, it probably isn’t that old.

      Report Post »  
  • Maximus_Delta
    Posted on July 30, 2012 at 6:09pm

    carbon dating, another science flaw and deception.

    Report Post » Maximus_Delta  
  • Joyzee
    Posted on July 30, 2012 at 6:02pm

    ///***That whale didn’t make that Whale skull***///………………..#:0(

    Report Post »  
  • Coonrapids
    Posted on July 30, 2012 at 5:35pm

    Hey you Massholes, Did you get the OK from that Indian soon to be Senator Elizabeth Warren the rignt to dig up that land. The Indians owened it first and Warren will protect the rights of that dead whale to get stimulis money and a $2 million grant to fund globale warming research.

    Report Post » Coonrapids  
  • tkcinak
    Posted on July 30, 2012 at 5:32pm

    For all you science worshippers out there let it be known. We are humans not God and we have no idea how things actually work in this universe, there are miles of science books disproven as factual and true. Even e=mc2 is no longer true as of recent discoveries. So, as far as, we self proclaimed gods, we have only proven ourselves to be fools, as the only true book of scientific evidence proven true in every case is the HOLY BIBLE. A large percentage of scientist now go to The Bible for proof before publishing. Now all you haters out there come and get some, but you should do some research before posting, because you will only make fools of yourselves.

    Report Post »  
    • Kaoscontrol
      Posted on July 30, 2012 at 6:09pm

      Carbon 14 dating is so old fashioned. Around here we’ve already upgraded to Carbon 15.3… It’s a much newer Operating System, but there are still some bugs that are being worked out.

      Report Post » Kaoscontrol  
    • jman-6
      Posted on July 30, 2012 at 7:07pm

      Agreed 100%!!!!!!!!! Thi science nonsense is nothing more than a BIG LIE from the ENEMIES of GOD!!!!! Its nothing but ANTI-GOD cultism!!!! All anyone needs is the Holy Bible and read it GOD explains that he feeds and raises every creature….HIM… not man!!! GOD Bless!!!

      Report Post »  
    • BigAl78
      Posted on July 31, 2012 at 1:30am

      Ummm… actually we do have a pretty decent understanding of the universe. We have a good enough understanding of it to cure ourselves of ailments, send robots to other planets, and keep tiny, powerful computers in our pockets. There’s still a lot to be learned, and our current knowledge is constantly revised and altered to fit new discoveries. But that’s how science works, and it’s been doing a damn good job so far.

      Report Post » BigAl78  
  • MarcNTyme
    Posted on July 30, 2012 at 4:50pm

    “Than” not “then”. Sheesh.

    Report Post »  
  • TPITED
    Posted on July 30, 2012 at 4:23pm

    16th Century Whale Skull found on Mass. beach. Government confiscates land for 5 miles in both directions and cites endagered species grave site act!

    Report Post » TPITED  
  • OneTermPresident
    Posted on July 30, 2012 at 4:19pm

    Carbon dating…? I remember a test that was done on a LIVING Sand Crab… the results using carbon dating showed the crab to be 10,000 years old. Funny how they consider dinosaur bones they’ve found just sticking out of the ground today to be “billions” of years old… I don’t buy it.

    Report Post » OneTermPresident  
  • BryanB
    Posted on July 30, 2012 at 4:02pm

    No No No !!!!!!

    The Story Title should Read:

    Boy in well eats Ancient Whale Skull Stays Alive One Year, While Smithsonian employees eat sandwiches, President Obama Orders Drone Strikes !!!!!!!!

    Report Post » BryanB  
    • GENEPAGLIARI
      Posted on July 30, 2012 at 5:58pm

      Those drone strikes he prefers medium rare. Also, Bush‘s fault that whale didn’t make it as long as our fragile United States.

      Report Post »  
  • oldduffer
    Posted on July 30, 2012 at 3:40pm

    Dug up Ted did you? Hurry and get him registered.

    Report Post »  
  • OniKaze
    Posted on July 30, 2012 at 3:31pm

    Note to Blaze Staff:

    Scull…. Is SUPPOSED to be spelled: “Skull”…

    Spell Check MAY not be reliable… But it never hurts to try….

    Report Post » OniKaze  
    • SREGN
      Posted on July 30, 2012 at 3:42pm

      You‘re right in this case but spell chack wouldn’t catch it. Scull is a nautical term for a rowing technique and also a type of rowed boat..

      Report Post »  
    • Too_Far_Gone
      Posted on July 30, 2012 at 3:46pm

      You have got to be kidding me, get a life ..

      Report Post » Too_Far_Gone  
    • nattybrooks
      Posted on July 30, 2012 at 3:49pm

      wouldnt hurt to hire an editor before posting stories either

      Report Post » nattybrooks  
  • historyguy48
    Posted on July 30, 2012 at 3:26pm

    Comrades whales didn’t exist in1500AD? Or is the non-story that American Indians caught and ate the whale in 1500AD?
    Perhaps this shows that Ancient Aliens taught the Indians how to catch and kill a whale in 1500AD?
    Or maybe a visiting Inuit just got hungry so he caught and ate the whale?
    Perhaps our “scientisits” are amazed that Indians were smart enough to catch a whale and eat him. After all scientific consensus is that they only crept through the forest trying to catch rabbits and stuff while being half starved until the Pilgrims came and taught them civilization!
    That’s why the Six Nations are the oldest democracy on Earth!
    If they want some old bones my dogs been hiding them since he was born and so have his two predecessors.

    Report Post » historyguy48  
  • billrow
    Posted on July 30, 2012 at 3:23pm

    Before that thing goes to the Smithsonian I’m sure the dems will register it to vote.

    Report Post »  
  • BIgWheeler
    Posted on July 30, 2012 at 3:22pm

    The title should read: Whale Skull Discovered Last Year in Mass. Is A Lot Older Then First Thought — Slightly.

    Report Post » BIgWheeler  
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