40,000-Year-Old Mammoth Bones Discovered by Austrian Man During Wine Cellar Renovations

An Austrian man was able to discover some mammoth bone remains in a wine cellar while renovations were ongoing.

The remains may represent three or more animals. They are also thought to be roughly 30,000 to 40,000 years of age.

Mammoth Bones Found

Andreas Pernerstorfer, a local winegrower, discovered the mammoth bone remains in his wine cellar situated in Gobelsburg, in Krems district at the west of Vienna.

As he was conducting renovations of his wine cellar, he ended up stumbling upon the odd finding. He initially thought that he discovered a wood piece that his grandfather left behind.

However, Pernerstorfer remembered something that his grandfather had shared about teeth in the cellar during excavations decades ago. The winegrower then wondered if the seemingly wood piece could have been more special.

It appeared that Pernerstorfer's wine cellar contained massive mammoth bones. There were a total of at least 300 of them.

Following the discovery of the bones, Pernerstorfer reached out to the Austrian Federal Monuments Office to report the findings. The office then referred Pernerstorfer to the Archaeological Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW).

The OeAW revealed that the discovery is the most important one of its kind within the country for over a century.

Archaeologists were able to find several mammoth bone layers within the wine cellar. They were also able to discover some charcoal and stone artifacts. The latter findings aided in shedding light on the mammoth bones' age.

Hannah Parow-Souchon from the OeAW, who led the wine cellar excavation, said that such a dense mammoth bone layer is quite rare. This also marks the first time that they were able to dig into something like this in the country with the help of modern methods.

Rich Mammoth History

A similar discovery was seen roughly 150 years ago in Gobelsburg. Back then, the researchers were able to uncover a thick bone layer. They found this alongside charcoal and decorative fossils and flint artifacts.

The latest discovery could shed light on prehistoric mammoth hunting.

Parow-Souchon shared that they knew that humans used to hunt mammoths. However, very little is known about how humans did it in the past.

Archaeologists propose that the discovery site of the mammoth bones could be where the mammoths died. There is also a possibility that humans chased the mammoths to this area and put up a trap.

To uncover further insights, the researchers are examining the remains further. Later on, the bones will be brought to the Natural History Museum Vienna for their restoration.

Similar Discovery

Aside from this discovery, researchers were also able to find hundreds of prehistoric bones of animals earlier this year. The remains included that of a mammoth and a cave lion. They were found in a Polish cave known as the Paradise Cave.

This Paradise cave, situated in the Świętokrzyskie region of the country, is considered one of the country's most significant archaeological sites.

Małgorzata Kot, who is from the University of Warsaw's Faculty of Archaeology, said that Paradise is among the most important and famous archaeological sites within the country. Yet, there is very little that is known about it.

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