The likelihood is low; the conditions for preservation of organic material on the continental shelf are generally poor.

But the Channel Islands region is precisely the kind of place where surprising discoveries have already occurred, and the motivation for continued investigation is strong.

Returning To The Canyon Wall

In the summer of 1959, Phil Orr was walking through Arlington Canyon when he noticed two bones protruding from a bank of sediment roughly 37 feet below the modern surface.

He recognized them as human.