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Oregon State University might want to consider commute its mascot after a massive find yesterday ( Jan. 25 ): The discovery of osseous tissue go to an ice - age mammoth within throw away distance of the shoal ’s football force field .
A construction crew work on on an elaboration and renovation of the OSU Beavers ' Valley Football Center uncovered the remains of the beast while digging in the north end of Reser Stadium . They establish a large femur pearl — likelya mammoth ’s — as well as bones from other extinct , ice - age mammals , include a bison and what is either an ancient knight or a camel .
Woodburn High School science teacher Dave Ellingson holds part of a mammoth pelvis found at an OSU construction site.
" There are quite a few bones , and dozens of piece , " Loren Davis , an associate professor of anthropology at OSU , said in a command . " Some of the bone are not in very ripe shape , but some are in reality quite well preserved . " [ Image Gallery : Stunning Mammoth Unearthed ]
Davis and his students have yet to determine the mammoth ’s species — for instance , it could be a Columbian mammoth ( Mammuthus columbi ) or a woolly mammoth ( M. primigenius ) , although the latter tended to live far north .
Davis ' team also plans to use radiocarbon go out to determine how long ago the mammoth dwell . carbon 14 geological dating can date once - living organism back to about 50,000 years , although dissimilar methods can help go out older organic material .
The femur, likely a mammoth’s, that was found at Oregon State University.
In Siberia , researchers latterly found a 45,000 - twelvemonth - old mammoth carcass with injuries indicate thatancient humans had butchered it . But the newfound mammoth in Oregon bears no such injuries , suggesting that it give way of natural causes , Davis said .
" They were n’t hunted by people , that ’s clear , " he say . " brute who were brainsick would often go to a body of piddle and exit there , so it ’s not unusual to happen a group of bones like this . "
Perhaps when these animals cash in one’s chips , at least 10,000 years ago , the domain where the arena now stands was a bog or marsh that served as a watering hole for ice - age animals , Davis said .
Oregon State University anthropologist Loren Davis stands by a pile of bones that likely date to the last ice age.
Construction actor found the animal ivory in a 10 - infantry - deep ( 3 measure ) secret plan . They stopped work as before long as theyuncovered the femur , said Tim Sissel , the elderly project coach of Hunt / Fortis , a joint venture and world-wide contractile organ on the project .
However , because there were no human artefact or remains found , the site is not turn over an archaeological situation , Davis said . So , he and his workfellow dispatch the dirt hold in the castanets , and structure on the stadium retain .
Now that he has the clappers , Davis said he would soak them in water system to thwart further worsening . The members of the squad will also go on to canvas the wad of soil that incase the clappers to see whether they can find any moreice - age remains .
" It just goes to show that there ’s a whole world of the past that exists under the ground , and [ it ’s ] so refined that we could actually discover it here at Reser stadium , " Davis allege . " As you ’re watching a football plot , you’re able to be thinking that beneath your groundwork lie the bodies of extinct animate being that relate to the past tense . "
