Posted on 06/21/2004 5:37:15 PM PDT by blam
Stone Age elephant remains found
The skeleton was found at the site of a new station
Construction work on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) in Kent has unearthed the 400,000-year-old remains of an elephant. The skeleton was found on the site of the new Ebbsfleet station, an area thought to be an early Stone Age site.
Bones from other large animals, including rhinoceros, buffalo and wild horses, have also been found nearby.
The remains were preserved in muddy sediment near what was once the edge of a small lake, a spokesman said.
The elephant, which has been identified as a straight-tusked Palaeoloxodon antiquus, would have been twice the size of the largest modern African elephant.
The skeleton was also found with a number of flint tools surrounding it, indicating that it was probably slaughtered by humans.
Flint tools
Dr Francis Wenban-Smith of the University of Southampton, who made the discovery, said: "Only a handful of other elephant remains have been found in Britain and none of these give any indication of human exploitation.
"It is hard to imagine early humans successfully hunting a healthy specimen, but if it was already trapped in the bog, it could have been killed by early humans with wooden spears and then butchered for its meat with flint tools."
We thought we had found everything but it seems the best has been saved for last
Helen Glass
The archaeological investigation is being carried out by Oxford Archaeology, on behalf of CTRL project managers Rail Link Engineering (RLE) and its client Union Railways.
Helen Glass of RLE said: "During pre-construction investigations across the Ebbsfleet Valley we found an Anglo-Saxon mill, as well as the remains of a Roman town and villa complex.
"We thought we had found everything, but it seems the best has been saved for last."
They aren't sure for how much longer, though.
Maybe Bush has some blame, but I'm sure that Reagan's policies were also an issue.
Ok, how about this: the skeleton is 400k years old, but early people found it dead later. Like those mammoths that cropped up in Siberia, fresh enough to eat. Maybe there was a warm spell 100k years ago and humans spotted these big critters in the ice, then dug into the "freezer" for easy, pre-killed, fast food.
Could early humans have killed such huge animals with wooden spears and flint tools? It seems hard to believe.
Well, there is garbage all over the place and the trash can liners are missing.
Well, that's a handsome critter. Clearly more related to the Indian than the African.
Can't imagine how you kill one without recourse to gunpowder or even crossbows.
I bet these is mighty good eatin'
Those are curve-tusked Palaeoloxodon antiquus. Don't you know anything? ;)
I understand that some of the primitive hunters would sneak up and cut a leg tendon or two and jumbo was immobilized.
There is a full (fossil) skeleton of a spoonbill elephant at the Milwaukee museum. The lower jaw is a big long spoon.
Whoa!
With a career like that, you don't ask about the retirement plan.
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