Fossilized Colombian mammoth found in western Colorado
Researchers say that a driver discovered a fossilized Columbian mammoth, an ice age creature in western Colorado.
The driver was working on expanding a reservoir near the Aspen/Snowmass ski resort when he found the fossil. Now the site where the fossils were found has been linked to two time periods - 12,000 to 16,000 years old and another more than 40,000 years. Researchers have found at least 22 animal species at the highest Ice Age Site.
"We've got partial skeletons of many a mastodon, of two mammoths, a couple of bison — including the skull, a magnificent skull, of a gigantic Ice Age bison with a 7-foot horn span," says Kirk Johnson, the chief curator at the Denver museum who is overseeing the dig. "We have the bone of Jefferson's ground sloth, which is the highest known occurrence of this animal ever found in the world. And we've got a complete skeleton of an Ice Age deer."
"And it will tell us a lot about what life was like in the Rockies during the last Ice Age. It's a window into an Ice Age ecosystem. We know very little about places like that, so this is really a world-class fossil site," said Johnson.