MEXICO CITY, MEXICO—According to an Associated Press report, the remains of some 60 mammoths have been unearthed at a construction site in central Mexico, about six miles away from two pits dug about 15,000 years ago to trap the giant beasts. Bones from at least 14 mammoths, some of which had been butchered, were recovered from those pits last year. Archaeologist Pedro Sánchez Nava of Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History said there could be hundreds of sets of mammoth remains at the newly discovered site, which is set along the shores of an ancient, shallow lake that would have provided the animals with abundant grasses and reeds. Sánchez Nava said the animals may have gotten stuck in deep mud on the lake shore and died. Further study of the remains will look for indications that humans scavenged the carcasses. “It’s possible they may have chased them into the mud,” Sánchez Nava said. The discovery could also reveal that humans ate mammoth meat more frequently than previously thought, he added. To read about pits used to trap mammoths, go to "Around the World: Mexico."
