BREWSTER (CBS) – Workers at a Brewster resort started digging out a walking hazard on the beach when they learned it was much bigger and older than they bargained for.

Experts say the workers actually stumbled across a skull from a whale.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030′s Jeff Brown reports

It’s been there for centuries, and just last fall started poking out of the sand.

Brian Sharp, a coordinator from the International Fund for Animal Welfare says it was a delicate operation.

“It was incredibly fragile,” says Sharp. “We had to take great care; it basically took two days to dig it out and actually extract it.”

Officials say the whale was likely swimming the waters off Cape Cod before the Pilgrims arrived in 1620.

The skull is six feet wide and weighs more than 400 pounds.

This weekend, the bones begin their journey to the Smithsonian in Washington to be put on display.