Oil Workers Make Surprising Discovery in Russia That's Thousands of Years Old

Oil workers in Russia have made one mammoth of a find — literally.

They came across a tusk of a wooly mammoth, then once they saw what it was, grabbed their shovels and started digging some more, the Siberian Times reported.

Oil workers found mammoth bones in Khanty-Mainsi Autonomous Region https://t.co/mJSZspLX3S pic.twitter.com/MqnQczWs4r

— Siberian Times (@siberian_times) March 30, 2015

They ended up finding a second tusk, tibia, ribs and tooth and jaw fragments.

Anton Rezvy, a paleontology expert at the Khanty-Mansiysk Museum of Nature and Man, estimated the remains are some 10,000 years old and that the female mammoth was about 30 to 40 years old when it died. Rezvy said a genetic analysis can determine a more specific radiocarbon date and whether it was from a European or North American mammoth population.

The uncovered remains have been sent to a museum for repair and restoration work, which Rezvy estimated could take up to a year, Petro Global News reported.

(H/T: Siberian Times)

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