MAMMOTH remains dating back at least 10,000 years have been unearthed in Puebla, Mexico.
The discovery was announced on Wednesday by Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History.
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The remains were dug up in the municipality of Los Reyes de Juarez, in eastern Puebla, after the local cemetery’s caretaker came across the bone fragments.
The caretaker was preparing a new grave when he struck the remains, which he believed to be a root, with his backhoe.
“Through archaeological rescue tasks, in the aisle between the rows of graves it was possible to recover an almost complete tusk with an initial measurement of 2.90 meters, and the second tusk was also found that was broken by the machine,” Iván Alarcón Durán, a biologist from the institute, said.
In addition to the tusk, a fragmented skull, much of the pelvis, and several rib fragments were also excavated.
“To avoid deterioration of the bone, the skull was removed immersed in a box of hardened sediment and will be carefully cleaned in the laboratory for further analysis,” the institute said.
Archaeologists also found layers of travertines — a type of limestone rock that is formed near bodies of water, such as springs, lakes, and rivers — by the remains.
Durán initially confirmed the bones as belonging to a classification of megafauna from the Pleistocene period — known more commonly as the Ice Age that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago.
Upon further investigation, the biologist identified the remains as a male Columbian mammoth.
The Columbian mammoth inhabited much of North America pre-extinction, roaming as far north as the northern United States and as far south as Costa Rica.
DNA studies have confirmed that the species was a mix between woolly mammoths and another type of animal that descended from steppe mammoths.
The animal is believed to have gone extinct around 10,900 years ago.
The closest extant relative of the Columbian, as well as other mammoths, is the Asian elephant.
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In other news, Samsung is reportedly killing off its beloved Note smartphone after more than a decade.
Apple has announced that it will let customers fix their own iPhones for the first time starting next year.
And the UK is fighting an epidemic of hack attacks targeting consumers and businesses, according to officials.
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