Mammoth graveyard found near Colorado ski resort
A n ice age graveyard where dozens of animals, including mammoths, mastodons and a giant ground sloth, died up to 150,000 years ago has been unearthed near a popular mountain ski resort.
The fossilized remains, which were found in sediment at the bottom of a drained reservoir in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, are thought to be one of the largest collections of animals from the last ice age to be found in one place.
Contractors preparing the ground for the construction of a dam at the Ziegler reservoir near Snowmass Village, which is part of the Aspen ski resort, uncovered the bones of a mammoth in October and so far more than 600 bones have been recovered.
Paleontologists found the remains of four Columbian mammoths; 10 American mastodons, a distant relation of the mammoth and elephant; four ice age bison, which were twice the size of modern bison; a species of ice age deer; a Jefferson’s ground sloth and a tiger salamander.