Workers digging at a construction site in Seattle unearthed what is believed to be a tusk from an Ice Age mammoth, a giant, elephant-like creature that became extinct about 10,000 years ago.
The tusk was discovered Tuesday on a construction project in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood. Because it was discovered on private property, the owner will decide what to do with it, the Seattle Times reports. Paleontologists from Seattle’s Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture would like to excavate the tusk, the museum’s curator Christian Sidor said in a statement, calling the discovery “a rare opportunity to directly study Seattle’s ancient natural history.”
Mammoths were massive elephant-like creatures that scientists believed entered North America from 35,000 to 18,000 years ago. Other mammoth fossils have been found in the Pacific northwest as late as last fall.
Workers digging at a construction site in Seattle unearthed what is believed to be a tusk from an Ice Age mammoth, a giant, elephant-like creature that became extinct about 10,000 years ago.
The tusk was discovered Tuesday on a construction project in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood. Because it was discovered on private property, the owner will decide what to do with it, the Seattle Times reports. Paleontologists from Seattle’s Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture would like to excavate the tusk, the museum’s curator Christian Sidor said in a statement, calling the discovery “a rare opportunity to directly study Seattle’s ancient natural history.”
Mammoths were massive elephant-like creatures that scientists believed entered North America from 35,000 to 18,000 years ago. Other mammoth fossils have been found in the Pacific northwest as late as last fall.