Missing: Horse skull from Yukon's Carcross desert https://t.co/0NmazpstMf
— CBC North (@CBCNorth) May 30, 2016
While it’s not quite an Indiana Jones level heist, according to CBC News, someone has stolen an archaeologically significant horse skull from a recently unearthed skeleton in the Canadian Yukon’s Carcross Desert, and researchers would really like it back.
Measuring in at around a single square mile, the Carcross Desert is sometimes considered to be the smallest desert in the world. A popular tourist attraction, the little biome, which is not technically a real desert, was formed from the remains of an ancient glacial lake, and has managed to sustain its sandy atmosphere thanks to its specific location in the shadow of some nearby mountains. Just outside of its borders, the land turns starkly into the green firs that dominate most of the region.
A number of ancient horse skeletons have been discovered in the Yukon, providing archaeologists with prime specimens of the ancient animal bones. And yet another skeleton appeared on the edges of the Carcross Desert just last week, likely uncovered by simple wind erosion. It was spotted by a bus driver, who noticed the corpse while stopping at the desert with a group of tourists, and immediately reported it to the local government. Archaeologists were dispatched to the site the next day to check it out, but by the time they arrived, it was too late. Somebody had already stolen the horse’s head.
The horse turned out to be a particularly special find in that it was not as old as many of the ancient specimens usually found in the Yukon, giving researchers a glimpse at another stage in the decomposition. Well, at least for most of the body. They ask that whoever absconded with the horse head please return it so that they can study the complete horse. In other words: it belongs in a museum.