Experts find remains of 50 mammoths two metres below street level in a Mexican village

Experts believed they have stumbled across 14,000 year old remains of more than 50 mammoths near Mexico City.

Scientists believe the have discovered the fossils of more than 50 mammoths near Mexico city Image by Ali Harrison / CC BY 2.0

The fossilised bones were uncovered during work on installation of drain near the village of Tultepec. The remains were scattered around the area where they were found, which suggests they had been butchered for their meat and pelt by humans. At the time the area was a shallow lake in which heavy mammoths probably got stuck. Other remains have also been found close by, researchers confirmed.

The Woolly Mammoth became extinct  3,000 years ago and is related to the mammoth  discovered in Mexico Image by Rob Pongsajapan / CC BY 2.0

An archaeologist with the National Institute of Anthropology and History, Luis Cordoba, disclosed that the Tultepec mammoth was uncovered some two metres beneath the village street. At the time it met its death it was between 20-25 years old but its skeleton was virtually complete. A bonus was the fact that its tusks were attached to its skull when found. Researchers now hope to continue assembling the fossils before put them on display for the public to see.
Remains of Mammoths have been found across several parts of Mexico, particularly in areas where herds assembled for drinking around lakes. These Columbian mammoths were a sub-species of the mammoths that lived across the Central America and the US. Mammoth fossils have also been found in Texas and California.