EJ got a phone call today from one of the archaeologists who sometimes does contract work for her company.  Seems the archaeologist got a call from one of the gravel pit owners in southwest Idaho that she works with, who said he thought he'd found something interesting that she might want to take a look at.

When she got there he showed her an enormous tusk--seems he'd dug up a mammoth.

They're first going to stabilize the area before they start excavating the thing--no one knows how much of a mammoth they have, but it ought to be interesting to hear what happens.

That's about all I know so far.  Nothing in the news yet that I can show you, but I expect they'll have something about it in the local media in the next few days.

Guess you never know when an elephant will show up.   

Best,

George

George, that is exciting indeed!
I can't wait to hear more. When a mammonth expedition came to one of Helsinki's museums, me and a friend of mine went there as soon as we could.

My cousin wanted to become an archeologist, now she is studying how to renovate old buildings to their former glory.

Sanna

Found in a gravel pit, eh?  They'll be checking the surrounding strata closely, this could be where Fred Flintstone worked for Mr. Slate.  The Bedrock Drive In may not be far away!


It may be a while before more is known and kept quiet to keep out fossil hunters disturbing the area, permits needed (anything of Betty Rubble's attire would go for a ton on ebay).  It's done so carefully to verify the environment of deposition and correlating the rocks with fossils.  Proper handling is very important for locality info.

Nothing in the media yet, but apparently it's deliberate.  They're keeping this close to the vest for now--for which I don't blame them.

This will be of significant interest.  EJ talked to the archaeologist who was originally called in on the thing today, and they've involved the local university's paleontology department, which is proceeding with the excavation.  It seems that the skeleton is of a female, and major portions of it are still present.  It could even be more or less complete.  The word is that there is also a calf. 

The best part, though, is that they've invited the landowners to assist in the excavation.  How exciting would that be?     (Yeah, I'm a nerd.)

More later as the situation develops.

Best wishes,

George

George wrote on Aug 7^th, 2008 at 8:27pm:


By those standards so am I.....LOL  

Cool George.  It may become a field study site for graduate students for many years to come.  Intact with possibly a calf may mean it was covered quickly for some reason, hard to do with a mammoth, a big puzzle.  I'm sure the university is excited as well, the documentation will be referred to in books in a few years piecing together the rebeginnings of life in that area after the glaciers receded, or maybe about life before, depending how old it is.  The analyzing and dating of surrounding rocks will be pretty accurate when done, complex in a possibly suddenly changing terrain.
 This is very different from the ones in Utah where many bones are found attracted to a salt source.

Thank you for the upadate, George! That is exciting!

Sanna