Mammoth Family

Sent in by William – www.whitehorsestar.com/News/mammoth-skeletons-called-super-exciting … placer miners in the Dawson gold fields regularly find the bones of Ice Age animals, including those of mammoths. It is rather rare for them to find them as a partial skeleton – and a whole mammoth would be very surprising. Mostly, animal bones are disarticulated, as one might expect if they had been buffeted around in a tidal surge [running up river valleys]. In May, placer miner Trey Charlie came across a partial skeleton. In fact, initially, the skeletons were attributed to two individuals, an adult, and a youngster, possibly mother and offspring. It seems they must have died together, overwhelmed by water. Continuing invesigations, by archaeologists and paleontologists, have ended up with two adults and two or three youngsters. They all died together – in a single event. It seems they may have died around 30,000 years ago as hey were found in a layer of volcanic ash that was dated to that point in time. Whether this date is perfectly accurate or open to some wiggle room is not said. The bones themselves have yet to be C14 dated. We are told they became extinct in the Yukon around 11,000 years ago.