200,000-year-old mammoth fossils have been discovered in Britain

Researchers have discovered a “cemetery” full of the remains of five mammoths that died during the last ice age in what is now a quarry in Swindon, a town in the south west of England.

Along with the mammoth remains, researchers discovered Neanderthal stone tools, including an ax and small flint tools known as scrapers, which were used to clean fresh animal skins, according to DigVentures, the UK-based archeological team. led the excavation. However, the team has not yet analyzed the mammoth bones to determine if they have Neanderthal tool marks on them.

“Finding mammoth bones is always unusual, but finding bones that are so old and well-preserved and so close to Neanderthal stone tools is great,” said Lisa Westcott Wilkins, co-founder of DigVentures.

Two amateur fossil explorers, Sally and Neville Hollingworth, have discovered the Neanderthal cemetery and tools. Shortly afterwards, DigVentures decided to excavate the site. Archaeologists’ work has uncovered more glacial remains, including sensitive beetle wings, fragile freshwater snail shells and mammoth remains, such as tusks, leg bones, ribs and vertebrae.

Although the early steppe mammoths were up to 13.1 feet (4 meters) high at the shoulders, the five mammoths in the cemetery were small, indicating that the species may have shrunk during a particularly cold glacial period. , according to DigVentures.

The researchers dated the site to between 220,000 and 210,000 years ago, towards the end of an interglacial period, when Neanderthals were still living in Britain. Once temperatures dropped, however, Neanderthals moved further south.

Livescience

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