By Tim Binnall
Archaeologists in Mexico are celebrating an enormous find in the form of a massive mammoth graveyard containing the fossilized remains of around sixty of the ancient creatures. The remarkable discovery was reportedly made at a construction site in the city of Zumpango, where a new international airport is currently being built. In an effort to ensure that any potential artifacts or scientific treasures are not lost during the process, the country's National Institute of Anthropology and History established a series of "exploratory fronts" at the site to see what might be buried there.
Much to their profound surprise, the project led to scientists unearthing a huge cache of mammoth bones belonging to a species of the creature which roamed the Earth during the Pleistocene Era thousands of years ago. Having found no signs of hunting in the area, experts with the institute speculate that the pachyderms likely perished after being stuck in the mud on the shore of what had once been Lake Xaltocan. Amazingly, researchers say that the bones are so plentiful that they have yet to fully catalog them all to determine precisely how many mammoths were buried there.
In addition to the ancient pachyderm fossils, archaeologists also recovered the remains of 15 humans who were buried in the area during the country's pre-Hispanic period. These individuals are believed to have been farmers, since their bodies were buried alongside "pots, bowls and clay figurines, like that of a dog." Authorities in Mexico ultimately hope to showcase the mammoths and any other noteworthy finds from the construction site at a museum that would be attached to the airport and serve as a showcase of the region's rich history.