Few other fossil discoveries like this exist in California, a California State University paleontologist said. By
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A government ranger discovered a petrified forest while on patrol last year.
Found in California’s Mokelumne River watershed, the petrified forest also contained fossils from the Miocene era, around 10 million years ago.
During a survey of the area, 600 petrified trees, a rhino skeleton and an 8-million-year-old mastodon skull were uncovered there.
A government ranger in California discovered “bones of great beasts” amid a petrified forest while on patrol last year, including 600 petrified trees, a rhino skeleton and an 8-million-year-old mastodon skull, according to Smithsonian Magazine.