Mexico City:The skull and tusks of a 10,000-year-old elephant has been found in the central Mexican state of Tlaxcala.
According to Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), the Gomphotheres’ size was similar to modern elephants.
The bones were discovered in May amidst deposits of volcanic sand encrusted by thick layers of limestone, an INAH official said.
The skull and tusks measure about two metres (6.5 feet), relatively small for a gomphothere, possibly indicating that they came from a young animal.
Workers extracting sand for restoration of the Tepeticpac archaeological site stumbled upon the tip of one of the tusks and alerted INAH, which authorised an excavation.
