When workers from Russia's Rosneft oil company set out on a land reclamation project, they had no idea they would stumble on an important discovery. The workers unearthed the tusks of a female woolly mammoth during the project, near the city of Nyagan in western Siberia.
When the first tusk emerged in an excavator bucket, the workers began digging with hand shovels. They found the second tusk as well as tibia, ribs, and teeth, and jaw fragments from the animal.
Rosneft called the Khanty-Mansiysk Museum of Nature and Man to assess the find, and museum paleontologists confirmed the remains are at least 10,000 years old. They believe the mammoth was 30-40 years old when it died.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The museum will clean the tusk and bones, and experts will use radiocarbon dating to determine the remains' exact age. The experts also hope to determine whether the mammoth was part of the European or North American subspecies.
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstancesSpeed Read
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2Speed Read
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governorSpeed Read
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditionsSpeed Read
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billionSpeed Read
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on recordSpeed Read
-
Glacial outburst flooding in Juneau destroys homesSpeed Read
-
Scotland seeking 'monster hunters' to search for fabled Loch Ness creatureSpeed Read
