The end zone of a college football field is probably the last place one would think to excavate ancient animal bones. But that’s exactly what happened this week at Oregon State University. A construction crew unearthed the femur bone of a wooly mammoth while renovating Reser Stadium at OSU Monday. The bone was discovered ten feet below the north end zone, the university reported.
After digging deeper, the crew found bones from several more extinct creatures, including bison and some type of camel or horse. “There are quite a few bones, and dozens of pieces,” an associate professor of anthropology, Loren Davis said in a statement. Davis was called to the site after the mammoth bone was first discovered. “Some of the bones are not in very good shape, but some are actually quite well preserved.” Additional testing will be required to determine the bones’ exact age. Davis said that there doesn’t seem to be any sign of human bones or artifacts at the site.
