Excavation of 10,000 year old mammoth bones

A prehistoric skeleton is believed to have been unearthed by mammoths during the construction of the stadium of Oregon State University (USA).

Construction workers discovered this skeleton while digging at the Valley Football Center expansion project.

"We found an intact bone that we believe is the femur of a mammoth," said Oregon State University spokesman Steve Clark. "There are a number of bone fragments that are likely to be bones of other species, possibly a bison bison and a camel."

According to Clark, a school professor examined bone numbers and estimated they were at least 10,000 years old. The large bone was carried out by a school archaeologist.

Workers are unearthing the mammoth bone.(Source: OSU).

Sports director Mark Massari told the media that the bones were found at the site of the football team's dressing room.

Mammuthus or Mammothus (scientific name: Mammuthus) is an ancient elephant that was extinct, living about 4.8 million years ago to 4,500 years ago. They have a characteristic of about 3 - 3.3 m, thick skin, approximately 50cm long, thicker than modern, long and curved ivory elephants. Very long mammoth teeth, curled inward, longest to 5cm, sharp, suitable for crushing grass.

They have short, shoulder hindquarters. The leg has only 4 fingers (less than 1 finger compared to the current elephant). The mammoth's nozzle has two finger-like protrusions, one in the front and one in the back, making it easy to pick up grass leaves.

It is thought that the last mammoth disappears in Europe and South Siberia about 12,000 years ago. Meanwhile, recent studies of Alaska sediments show that mammoths live on the continent of America until 10,000 years ago.

Because of the many remains of mammoths found in many places, scientists can reconstruct the evolutionary history of this elephant genus.

Extinct mammoths due to climate change or excessive hunting by humans are still a controversial topic. A logical explanation for the extinction of mammoths is a combination of both: climate change combined with being hunted by humans.