mammoths

13 Stories

That's No Elephant. That's a Mammoth.

50K-year-old juvenile mammoth carcass discovered in Russia's thawing permafrost

(Newser) - Russian scientists have unveiled what they say is the best-preserved mammoth carcass ever discovered—that of a juvenile dubbed "Yana." The female mammoth, believed to have been about a year old when she died an estimated 50,000 years ago, was discovered this summer in thawing permafrost in...

Early Americans Essentially Ignored Small Game
Early Americans Essentially
Ignored Small Game
NEW STUDY
Dec 5, 2024 12:05 PM CST

Early Americans Essentially Ignored Small Game

For the Clovis people, it was all about megafauna, particularly mammoths

(Newser) - Prehistoric inhabitants of North America were expert mammoth hunters and based their diet on the massive beast, new research suggests, upending assumptions that they mainly hunted small game. The findings emerged from the bones of an 18-month-old boy who lived nearly 13,000 years ago in what is now Montana....

Mastodon Unearthed in Iowa Possibly Eaten by Humans
Mastodon Bones
Unearthed in Iowa
Aug 19, 2024 7:06 AM CDT

Mastodon Bones Unearthed in Iowa

Scientists hope to find 'identifiable cut marks' made by humans on the 13,600-year-old bones

(Newser) - The well-preserved skull of an extinct mastodon has been discovered in Iowa. Officials from the University of Iowa's Office of the State Archaeologist said a 12-day excavation yielded "several mastodon bones," largely from the skull of the massive animal, belonging to the same order as elephants and...

North Dakota Coal Miners Unearth an Ice Age Surprise

They find a 7-foot-long mammoth tusk, part of one of the state's most complete specimens

(Newser) - Coal miners in North Dakota found something wholly unexpected among the rocks they scooped up and unloaded into a pile—a 7-foot-long tusk of an Ice Age mammoth dead for tens of thousands of years. The rare find over Memorial Day weekend occurred at the Freedom Mine near Beulah, and...

Claim on Joe Rogan Podcast Sparks a 'Bone Rush' in NYC

Gold miner John Reeves says mammoth bones were dumped in East River in the 1940s

(Newser) - Ask people what you might find buried in the muck at the bottom of New York City's East River and they'd likely say "mob boss" before thinking of mammoth bones. But several groups of treasure hunters have taken to the waterway in recent weeks after hearing a...

Construction Uncovers Surprise: Mammoth Bones

Workers in Mexico find remains of about 60 of the giant creatures

(Newser) - Archaeologists have found the bones of about 60 mammoths at an airport under construction just north of Mexico City, near human-built "traps" where more than a dozen mammoths were found last year. The discoveries reveal how appealing the area was for mammoths. The National Institute of Anthropology and History...

Structure Made of Mammoth Bones Baffles Scientists
Structure Made of Mammoth
Bones Baffles Scientists
in case you missed it
Mar 22, 2020 6:42 AM CDT

Structure Made of Mammoth Bones Baffles Scientists

It was built 25K years ago in what is now Russia, and 'it does boggle my mind,' says researcher

(Newser) - Archaeologists have found plenty of structures made of mammoth bones across Eastern Europe over the years, but none quite like this one. Previously discovered ones were fairly small, suggesting they were used as dwellings. But this is not only older than the rest—figure about 25,000 years old—it'...

It Was Set to Be a Dump. Then, 'Largest Find of Its Kind'

Human-built pits in Mexico believed to be first known woolly mammoth traps

(Newser) - Humans were hunting woolly mammoths with traps some 15,000 years ago, according to a first-of-its-kind discovery. Archaeologists working the site of a planned garbage dump in Tultepec, Mexico, say they've found two pits used to capture the animals, as well as 824 bones from at least 14 mammoths—...

Stadium Crew Scores a Mammoth in End-Zone Dig

Oregon workers find bones belonging to Ice Age critter

(Newser) - Construction crews have scored big—and we mean big—in the end zone of Oregon State University's Reser Stadium. But this was no touchdown. While working on the Valley Football Center expansion, crews uncovered the remains of a mammoth that roamed the region at least 10,000 years ago...

Farmer Finds Mammoth Skeleton in His Field

They thought they were looking at a fence post at first

(Newser) - James Bristle and a friend were digging in his southern Michigan soybean field when they unearthed what looked like a bent fence post, caked with mud. Instead, it was part of a pelvis from an ancient woolly mammoth that lived up to 15,000 years ago. A team of paleontologists...

Workers on New Homes Make an Ancient Discovery

Lots of old animal fossils

(Newser) - Workers grading a Carlsbad, California, site in preparation for hundreds of new homes earlier this summer were shocked to find the neighborhood's previous residents still there. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports work was stopped as paleontologists removed fossils—some as old as 200,000 years—belonging to ancient mammoths...

Oil Workers Strike ... Woolly Mammoth

Tusk came up in excavator bucket

(Newser) - Oil workers in Siberia struck woolly mammoth while carrying out land reclamation work. The workers near Nyagan in western Siberia halted digging with the excavator when a tusk turned up in the bucket, and used hand shovels to find more of the mammoth's skeleton around 10 feet under the...

Elephant Ancestor's Bones Alter Our Continent's History

Gomphotheres appear to have roamed North America as recently as 13,400 years ago

(Newser) - North America's prehistoric Clovis people were known hunters of large mammoths and mastodons. But another elephant ancestor, the smaller gomphothere, may also have fallen prey to the ambitious hunter-gatherers. An archaeological dig begun in 2007 in northwestern Mexico now carbon dates that site—which has given up Clovis spear...

13 Stories