14,000-year-old mammoth remains uncovered in Mexico; Mammal could have been cut for meat and pelt

While installing drains near the village of Tultepec, Mexico, workers accidentally uncovered the remains of a Pleistocene-era mammoth in December 2015. Now, experts are completing work on digging up the fossilised bones of the mammoth. They started work in April. The bones are believed to be around 14,000 years old.

The interesting thing is that experts found the bones scattered suggesting that the beast was cut up by humans for its pelt and meat. Moreover, the position of the animal’s remains suggested that the mammoth got stuck in the mud. More such remains were found near the shallow lake where the beasts got stuck.

According to National Institute of Anthropology and History archaeologist Luis Cordoba, remains of more than 50 mammoths have been discovered around the capital Mexico City. The new Tultepec mammoth was discovered two metres underneath a street in the village.

The giant woolly mammal was about 20-25 years in age and its bones were more or less intact when discovered. When alive, the beast was 3.5 metres high, five metres long and weighed about five tonnes. Even the tusks were still attached to its skull when the fossil was discovered. The archaeologists hope to put the mammoth fossil on display once they have assembled it.

Giants like the one unearthed were known as Columbian Mammoths and they were a sub-species that lived across Central America and the United States. Remains of mammoths have been discovered across Mexico, Texas, and as far west as the La Brea Tar Pits in California.

While excavating fossil remains of mammals is excruciatingly slow, the team of palaeontologists have successfully removed the pelvis and the cranium. These were perfectly preserved due to the sediments in the soil surrounding the skeleton. The experts hope to complete the work in the next few days.