The numbers have gone beyond 100
Archaeologists are currently working on removing earth from enormous bones of mammoths found at the site of Mexico City’s new airport. Apart from the giant creatures, bones of other prehistoric species have been found in Zumpango located in the northern edge of the capital, which is located above an ancient lake bed.
Been happening since the 1970s
Army captain Jesus Cantoral, who leads the excavation team said, “More than 100 individual mammoths, individual camels, horses, bison, fish, birds, antelopes and rodents have already been recovered.”
The excavators found remains at 194 spots across the site since the first mammoth bones were found in October 2019 when work was about to start for a fuel terminal in the location.
Most of these animals were said to have roamed the earth sometimes between 10,000 to 25,000 years ago. The authorities are currently making sure that these remains are not disturbed while work on the airport is being carried out. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had promised that the airport will be inaugurated in March 2022.
The experts believe that the mammoths had come to the location for food and water that the lake had provided at that time. Archaeologist Araceli Yanez says, “The place had a lot of natural resources, enough for these individuals to survive for a long time for many generations. It attracted a large number of mammoths, and they got stuck, as is the case with this individual, and died here.”
Yanez was saying that the area had become muddy during winter, and many of these mammoths got trapped and starved to death.
Previously, mammoth discoveries were found in Mexico during the 1970s when Mexico City subway found a skeleton while digging on the capital’s north side. Later in 2012, hundreds of bones were found in a wastewater treatment plant outside the capital.
(Cover: ScienceAlert)