Whale fossil found on Tuscan vineyard

A pre-historic whale dating back some five million years has been discovered on a vineyard in Tuscany. The whale, estimated to be around 33 feet long, has been uncovered on the Castello Banfi estate in Montalcino, which is 18 miles from the sea. However, five million years ago, the area was under as much as 82 feet of water and teeming with marine life due to the warm, almost tropical temperatures of the period. Since then climate changes have caused the Mediterranean to make a slow retreat to its current location.

‘Talk about unique terroir!’ was the comment of Cristina Mariani-May, the family proprietor, who was at Castello Banfi when the discovery was made. A rich concentration of marine fossils has long been evident at the wine estate, appearing as white specks against the grey clay soil. And in the past a shark’s tooth and clamshell fossils have been unearthed, but nothing on such a grand scale.

To date, the palaeontology team working at the site have uncovered 20 football-sized vertebrae. They believe the whale is a young adult because some of the discs and the vertebrae aren’t joined together. The positioning of them suggest that the animal is pointing uphill towards the castle and the team are continuing excavating with the hope of finding the head. The dig has also turned up a dozen pre-historic shark teeth close to the bones of the whale.

The excavations should be completed in a few weeks and Cristina Mariani-May has asked that the castle be considered as a place to host the restored important fossil.