Key site
Sharktooth hill
Sharktooth hill. Which lies northeast of Bakersfield, California, USA, is the preserved remains of a north pacific near-shore oceanic ecosystem of the Middle Miocene. The sheer quantity and quality of its fossils were first documented by Swiss palaeontologist Louis Agassiz in 1856. In addition to marine mollusks, the fossils of a wide variety of fish have been found, including the teeth of 30 species of sharks (hence the site’s name). turtles, birds, and 17 species of whales and other marine mammals have also been discovered, including many Allodesmus fossils.