(CNN) Scientists believe a fossil found at a landfill in California belongs to an extinct species of whale that lived between 4 and 7 million years ago.

The seven-ton fossil was unearthed in June during a construction excavation at the Prima Deshecha landfill in San Juan Capistrano, Orange County Waste & Recycling announced in a statement

A paleontologist with Paleo Solutions Lab, a company employed by the County of Orange --paleontologists must monitor construction excavations under California law -- was working at the site when a large bone was spotted.

Paleontologists have preliminarily identified the bones as belonging to an extinct species of whale that lived during the late Miocene to the early Pliocene period, according to the statement.

The whale bones are now at the Cooper Center, where fossils and artifacts found in Orange County are preserved for research.

Kristina Hamm, spokeswoman with Orange County Waste & Recycling, told CNN more bones were uncovered, including what appears to be a skull, lower jaw, snout, ribs, limb bones, scapula, humerus, and the clavicle.

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