homehome Home chatchat Notifications


Over 800 mammoth bones discovered in massive fossil stash in Mexico

This might be the earliest example of a mammoth trap.

Alexandru Micu
November 7, 2019 @ 5:38 pm

share Share

If you like mammoths, you’re going to love this.

Archeologists from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) reported finding the largest-ever body of mammoth remains. The trove includes 824 bones from at least 14 different animals and was unearthed in central Mexico.

Image credits Edith Camacho / INAH.

Even more excitingly, the team believes that this stash is the oldest known example of a mammoth trap or ambush, set by our ancestors over 14,000 years ago.

Big stash of bigger animals

“This is the largest find of its kind ever made,” the institute said in a statement (original text in Spanish).

The fossils were found in the municipality of Tultepec near the site where a new airport is under construction. The team reports that some of the bones found showed signs that the animals were hunted. As the bones are estimated to be around 14,000 to 15,000 years old, the team says this is the earliest example of such a trap ever found.

Two human-dug pits created in those days of yore were also found at the site, which the team believes were used to trap the animals. Each pit is about 1.7 meters deep and 25 meters in diameter. Remains of two other species that have gone extinct in the Americas — a horse and a camel — were also found.

“Mammoths lived here for thousands of years. The herds grew, reproduced, died, were hunted,” archaeologist Luis Cordoba told local media. “They lived alongside other species, including horses and camels.”

The two pits were found on a site that’s earmarked for use as a garbage dump. It’s still unclear whether work on the dump will proceed.

share Share

How Hot is the Moon? A New NASA Mission is About to Find Out

Understanding how heat moves through the lunar regolith can help scientists understand how the Moon's interior formed.

This 5,500-year-old Kish tablet is the oldest written document

Beer, goats, and grains: here's what the oldest document reveals.

A Huge, Lazy Black Hole Is Redefining the Early Universe

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have discovered a massive, dormant black hole from just 800 million years after the Big Bang.

Did Columbus Bring Syphilis to Europe? Ancient DNA Suggests So

A new study pinpoints the origin of the STD to South America.

The Magnetic North Pole Has Shifted Again. Here’s Why It Matters

The magnetic North pole is now closer to Siberia than it is to Canada, and scientists aren't sure why.

For better or worse, machine learning is shaping biology research

Machine learning tools can increase the pace of biology research and open the door to new research questions, but the benefits don’t come without risks.

This Babylonian Student's 4,000-Year-Old Math Blunder Is Still Relatable Today

More than memorializing a math mistake, stone tablets show just how advanced the Babylonians were in their time.

Sixty Years Ago, We Nearly Wiped Out Bed Bugs. Then, They Started Changing

Driven to the brink of extinction, bed bugs adapted—and now pesticides are almost useless against them.

LG’s $60,000 Transparent TV Is So Luxe It’s Practically Invisible

This TV screen vanishes at the push of a button.

Couple Finds Giant Teeth in Backyard Belonging to 13,000-year-old Mastodon

A New York couple stumble upon an ancient mastodon fossil beneath their lawn.