Austrian Wine Cellar Renovation Unearths 30,000-Year-Old Mammoth Bones, Jewelry, and Fossils

During the renovations of a wine cellar in Gobelsburg, Austria, a remarkable discovery has been made. Andreas Pernerstorfer stumbled upon the massive bones of an extinct mammoth, believed to be approximately 30,000 to 40,000 years old.

The Austrian Archaeological Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences was promptly notified of the extraordinary find. Subsequently, the Institute commenced an extensive excavation of the Stone Age bones. This discovery is of immense significance, as similar artifacts like jewelry and fossils were found in the neighboring wine cellar 150 years prior. The last time bones of such importance were unearthed was over a century ago.

Archeologist Hannah Parow-Souchon, the leader of the excavation team, expressed the rarity of the find, stating, "Such a dense bone layer of mammoths is rare. It's the first time we've been able to investigate something like this in Austria using modern methods."

Implications of the Discovery

The researchers have come across a layer of bones from three different mammoths lying on top of each other. This striking revelation raises numerous questions regarding the hunting techniques employed by humans during the Stone Age. It is suggested that the mammoths may have been trapped at the site by humans. The mystery surrounding the methods used by ancient humans to hunt mammoths is yet to be fully unraveled.

Mammoths, believed to have originated in Africa 3 to 4 million years ago, migrated to Europe and Asia. The mammoth species on these continents existed from 200,000 to 135,000 years ago. After the Ice Age, woolly mammoths journeyed to North America, traversing the Bering Strait between present-day Russia and Alaska when sea levels were lower. They roamed as far inland as modern-day Kansas.