Archaeologists from DigVentures undertaking crowd-funded excavations unearthed remains of at least five mammoths and Neanderthal tools in an Ice Age graveyard in Swindon, a town in southwest England, United Kingdom. These remains belonged to two adults, two juveniles, and one infant mammoth.
The team said that the prehistoric mammoths were where cave-dwellers dined more than 215,000 years ago. They said the remains were from a species of Steppe mammoth, the ancestor of the Woolly mammoth. Other discoveries in the site also include delicate beetle wings and fragile freshwater snail shells, and stone tools.
Well-Preserved Mammoth Fossils Found Near Neanderthal Tools
DigVentures said that the site where they found the remains of the mammoths and Neanderthal tools was well preserved. The news outlet 9News reported that dating evidence had revealed that it was in use between 210,000 to 220,000 years ago when the world was nearing the end of a warm period called MIS7 during a time when Neanderthals still existed in Britain.
Some of the mammoths that remain they found include tusks, leg bones, ribs, and vertebrae of Steppe mammoths, one of the largest mammoth species that lived and measures around four meters tall at the shoulder when standing. The bones from the excavation site are small and displayed some evidence that their size decreased as temperatures decreased.
DigVentures co-founder Lisa Westcott Wilkins said that finding mammoth fossils is always extraordinary. But finding so old and yet well-preserved bones in close proximity to Neanderthal stone tools is at a different level. She added that there are not enough words to describe the thrill of seeing a mammoth tusk still in the ground and the feeling of standing in the site where Neanderthals and megafauna once shared the same world.
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Finding a Massive Buffet
Mail Online reported that the new findings of the graveyard are described in a new BBC documentary, titled "Attenborough and the Mammoth Graveyard," which is hosted by Sir David Attenborough and evolutionary biologist Ben Garrod from the University of East Anglia in the UK, who also joined DigVentures on the excavation site to film their work. The documentary will air on BBC One at 8 PM GMT on December 30.
They will discuss in the show the possible reasons why mammoth remains were found in the site where cave-dwellers dined and how they died. One of their theories is that the site was a massive buffet in which either they hunted the prehistoric elephants or they just happened to find the animals there and got a free meal.
Going forward, the team of archaeologists decided to continue their search for an answer as to why many mammoths died at one spot. Live Science reported earlier that Neanderthal footprints were also previously found in a 100,000-year-old nursery of Palaeoloxodon antiquus, which are straight-tusked elephants in southern Spain.
Historic England chief executive Duncan Wilson added that the findings have an enormous value for understanding the first humans in Britain and the environmental evidence that will help scientists understand the context of past climate change. Through these findings, more research will follow as experts look forward to bringing light on life in Britain thousands of years ago.
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