OSU Students Investigate Remains Of Unearthed Mammoth

Oklahoma State University students and staff are investigating the remains of a mammoth found in Enid, Okla.

"In terms of excitement, this may be on top," says OSU Geography professor, Carlos Cordova.

A crew laying oil pipeline in Enid came across the bones this past summer. Soon after the Oklahoma Archeological Survey, along with the geography department at OSU, unearthed the bones and brought them to Stillwater for further study.

OSU faculty and staff took part in the excavation by working weekends. Cordova says it's either an Imperial or Columbian Mammoth, but he's leaning Columbian.

"It was the most common in Oklahoma, but existed all the way from California to Florida," says Cordova.

Columbian mammoths weighed around six to eight tons and stood around 14 feet. The Doctor suspects the remains to be between 13,000 and 50,000 years old.

The bones are fairly well intact, including a skull, spine, part of the tusks, and an unbroken tibia bone.

The dirt around the bones is being sent off for special testing to show when the sand particles were last exposed to the sun.

"With this kind of find, it's more like working in a forensic lab," says Cordova.

OSU hopes to put up a campus display with bones sometime next year.