'Mammoth central' found at Mexico airport construction site

[Judi Lynn]

GERARDO CARRILLO
, Associated Press
Sep. 3, 2020
Updated: Sep. 3, 2020 5:58 p.m.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — 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.

Archaeologists hope the site that has become “mammoth central” — the shores of an ancient lakebed that both attracted and trapped mammoths in its marshy soil — may help solve the riddle of their extinction.

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.

There are so many mammoths at the site of the new Santa Lucia airport that observers have to accompany each bulldozer that digs into the soil to make sure work is halted when mammoth bones are uncovered.

More:
https://www.chron.com/news/article/Mammoth-central-found-at-Mexico-airport-15541598.php

[Sinistrous]

1. Wow! I would love to see that site.

[Dem2theMax]

2. Me too!

[CloudWatcher]

3. South Dakota!

You two should try and get to South Dakota ... Hot Springs, South Dakota. There's a dig there that is beyond cool.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammoth_Site,_Hot_Springs

The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, South Dakota is a museum and paleontological site near Hot Springs, South Dakota. It is an active paleontological excavation site at which research and excavations are continuing. The area of Mammoth Site of Hot Springs enclose a prehistoric sinkhole that formed and was slowly filled with sediments during the Pleistocene era. The sedimentary fill of the sinkhole contains the remains of Pleistocene fauna and flora preserved by entrapment and burial within a sinkhole. As of 2016, the remains of 61 mammoths, including 58 North American Columbian and 3 woolly mammoths had been recovered. Mammoth bones were found at the site in 1974, and a museum and building enclosing the site were established. The museum now contains an extensive collection of mammoth remains.

[Dem2theMax]

4. From where I sit, Mexico City and South Dakota are probably about the same amount of travel time!

But with everything going on, the South Dakota trip would be easier to do.

I'm going to have to put that on my bucket list. Would be absolutely fascinating to see. I've been to Dinosaur National Monument, and I used to live an hour from the La Brea Tar Pits. Been there many times. But I've never been to a site like the one you just wrote about in South Dakota. Definitely would love to do that someday soon!