Woolly Mammoth Tusk Found at Downtown Seattle Construction Site
Posted on February 14, 2014
An 8.5-feet-long woolly mammoth tusk was found at a downtown Seattle construction site. Burke Museum paleontologists are working to remove the tusk without damaging it. The museum says the tusk is the largest and most complete mammoth tusk found Seattle to date.
Christian Sidor, vertebrate paleontology curator for the Burke Museum, says the tusk is probably about 20,000 years old, but could be decades older. The Seattles Times reports that Sidor estimates the tusk will weigh about 500 pounds. The mammoths in the region during the day were very large mammoths, called Columbian mammoths. They weighed up to 20,000 pounds.
AMLI Residential halted construction so the tusk can be removed from the construction site's 30-foot-deep pit and taken to the museum. Take a look:
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