At least 200 mammoth skeletons found at Mexico City airport construction site
The number of mammoth skeletons recovered at an airport construction site north of Mexico City has risen to at least 200, with a large number still to be excavated, experts said Thursday.
![]() |
Paleontologists work to preserve the skeleton of a mammoth that was discovered at the construction site of Mexico City's new airport in the Santa Lucia military base, Mexico [Credit: Marco Ugarte] |
Experts said that finds are still being made at the site, including signs that humans may have made tools from the bones of the lumbering animals that died somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago.
![]() |
Paleontologists work to preserve the skeleton of a mammoth that was discovered at the construction site of Mexico City's new airport in the Santa Lucia military base, Mexico [Credit: Marco Ugarte] |
“We have about 200 mammoths, about 25 camels, five horses,” said archaeologist Ruben Manzanilla Lopez of the National Institute of Anthropology and History, referring to animals that went extinct in the Americas.
![]() |
Paleontologists work to preserve the skeleton of a mammoth that was discovered at the construction site of Mexico City's new airport in the Santa Lucia military base, Mexico [Credit: Marco Ugarte] |
Manzanilla Lopez said evidence is beginning to emerge suggesting that even if the mammoths at the airport died natural deaths after becoming stuck in the mud of the ancient lake bed, their remains may have been carved up by humans. Something similar happened at the mammoth-trap site in the hamlet of San Antonio Xahuento, in the nearby township of Tultepec.
![]() |
Paleontologists work to preserve the skeleton of a mammoth that was discovered at the construction site of Mexico City's new airport in the Santa Lucia military base, Mexico [Credit: Marco Ugarte] |
“Here we have found evidence that we have the same kind of tools, but until we can do the laboratory studies to see marks of these tools or possible tools, we can’t say we have evidence that is well-founded,” Manzanilla Lopez said.
![]() |
Paleontologists work to preserve the skeleton of a mammoth that was discovered at the construction site of Mexico City's new airport in the Santa Lucia military base, Mexico [Credit: Marco Ugarte] |
“What caused these animals’ extinction, everywhere there is a debate, whether it was climate change or the presence of humans,” Arroyo Cabrales said. “I think in the end the decision will be that there was a synergy effect between climate change and human presence.”
![]() |
Paleontologists work to preserve the skeleton of a mammoth that was discovered at the construction site of Mexico City's new airport in the Santa Lucia military base, Mexico [Credit: Marco Ugarte] |
The site near Mexico City now appears to have outstripped the Mammoth Site at Hot Springs, S.D. — which has about 61 sets of remains — as the world’s largest find of mammoth bones. Large concentrations have also been found in Siberia and at Los Angeles’ La Brea tar pits.
Mexican Army Capt. Jesus Cantoral, who oversees efforts to preserve remains at the army-led construction site, said “a large number of excavation sites” are still pending detailed study, and that observers have to accompany backhoes and bulldozers every time they break ground at a new spot.
The airport project is scheduled for completion in 2022, at which point the dig will end.
Author: Gerardo Carrillo | Source: Associated Press [September 04, 2020]
Post A Comment
No comments :