‘Central mammoth’ found at Mexico airport construction site

The number of mammoth skeletons found at the airport construction site north of Mexico City increased to at least 200, with a large number to be unearthedexperts said Thursday.

Archaeologists hope that the site that became the “center of mammoths” – the shores of an ancient lake that attracted and kept mammoths in its swampy soil – could help solve the mystery of their disappearance.

Experts said finds are still being made at the site, including signs that humans may have made tools from the bones of clumsy animals that died somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago.

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There are so many mammoths on the grounds of the new Santa Lucia airport that observers must accompany every bulldozer that digs the ground to ensure that work is stopped when the mammoth bones are found.

“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 have become extinct in America. The site is just 12 miles (20 km) from artificial pits, essentially shallow mammoth traps that were dug by the first inhabitants to capture and kill dozens of mammoths.

Manzanilla Lopez said that evidence is beginning to emerge that even if the mammoths at the airport may have died of natural causes after being stuck in the mud at the bottom of an ancient lake, their remains could have been carved out by humans, something like the ones that were found. at the mammoth. – a trap in the village of San Antonio Xsahuento, in the neighboring town of Tultepec.

While tests on mammoth bones are still underway to try to find possible traces of cutting, archaeologists have found dozens of mammoth bone tools – usually rods used to hold tools or cutting tools – in Tultepec, for example.

“Here we found evidence that we have the same tools, but until we can do laboratory research to see traces of these tools or possible tools, we cannot say that we have evidence that is well founded.” – Manzanilla Lopez said.

Paleontologist Joaquin Arroyo Cabrales said the airport grounds “will be a very important place to test hypotheses” about the massive extinction of mammoths.

“What caused these animals to disappear is debated everywhere, whether it was climate change or the presence of humans,” said Arroyo Cabrales. “I think it will eventually be decided that there was a synergistic effect between climate change and human presence.”

Ashley Ledger, a paleontologist at Californian company Cogstone Resource Management, which was not involved in the excavation, noted that such natural death groups are “rare.” There must be a very specific set of conditions that allow for the collection of remains on site, but must also be preserved as fossils. There must be facilities for their rapid disposal and low oxygen levels. “

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The site near Mexico City now appears to have overtaken the Mammoth Monument in Hot Springs, South Dakota, which has about 61 sets of remains, as the world’s largest mammoth bone find. High concentrations have also been found in Siberia and the La Brea tar pits in Los Angeles.

At this point, mammoths seem to be everywhere in place, and the finds may slow but not stop work at the new airport.

Mexican Army Captain Jesús Cantorral, who oversees efforts to preserve the remains at the army-led site, said “a large amount of excavation” is still awaiting detailed study and that observers should accompany excavators and bulldozers every time they break the ground. in a new place.

He noted that the project is so ambitious that the machines can simply work somewhere else while archaeologists study the area.

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Construction of the airport is scheduled for completion in 2022, after which the excavation will be completed.