The first mammoth trap found in the world in Tultepec, México
- 6 nov 2019
- 3 Min. de lectura
They also discovered more than 800 mammoth bones, in addition to two vertebrae and a camel jaw and a camel tooth and bird bones.
After nine months of excavations, the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) announced that they found two mammoth traps considered the first in the world, in addition, they managed to recover more than 800 mammoth bones, which correspond to 14 these animals in Tultepec, State of Mexico.
The discovery, which was announced at the Mammoth Museum, took place on January 28 in the San Antonio Xahuento Community, where an excavation was carried out for the construction of a sanitary landfill.
The team of the Directorate of Archaeological Rescue of INAH described this finding as “an unprecedented context of hunting and mammoth hunt, which refers to the use of the environment and social organization reached by the first settlers of the Basin of Mexico, approximately 15 thousand years".
“The hunter gatherers had to dig large pits to use them as traps, they must have been 25 meters in diameter and 1.70 deep (…) due to the excavation data and the data on other remains located in the area it can be thought that the collector hunters they dug one or several trap lines, ”said archaeologist Luis Córdoba Barradas.
He added that the traps are considered unique because they had not been found in Mexico, and in the world it is uncommon to talk about them, “it was always thought that they were brought to animals to fall in swamps, in ravines, that is, natural traps , but here they are specifically excavated, ”he said.
Córdoba Barradas stressed that literature has been sought on the existence of these traps in the world, made by hunter bands, but they have not been found. He added that in this area - known as "Tultepec 2" - there could be three other traps, which can be explored with new research.
The archaeologist also said that a large number of mammoth bones had never been found in one place: “there is the reference of Tocuila, near Texcoco, there they found bones of many animals, there they found remains of five mammoths, but here we are talking of 800 mammoth bones, that is the most relevant data in the case of Mexico. ”
Unique findings in the world
He noted that of the few bones that are not mammoth; two are vertebrae and a camel jaw and a camel tooth, in addition to some bird bones. There is evidence that the hunters completely disarmed the mammoths, while others were highlighted by anatomical sections, he emphasized.
Another important finding, said the expert, is the brand that has a skull and talks about the spear attack by the hunter gatherers: “It is just over 15 centimeters long, it is a channel where it is seen that the weapon hit front and slipped, not stuck in the bone ”.
He explained that this data is important because, according to the theories that there were or there are about the possibility that the hunters directly attacked the mammoths, this is proof that there was direct attack.
The entire dataset, stratigraphic, vulcanological and the remains themselves collected throughout the excavation, are unambiguous indications of a human presence approximately 14,700 years ago in the Basin of Mexico, said archaeologist Luís Córdoba. (Ntx.)
Comentarios