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Woolly Mammoth Skull Discovered Near Gulf Coast

Posted on: Tuesday, 13 January 2004, 06:00 CST

CLUTE, Texas (AP) -- The skull of a woolly mammoth unearthed here has been tentatively dated to an age of 38,000 years, paleontologists say.

The remains were unearthed in a sand pit by Texas A&M University students and the Brazosport Archaeological Society. No mammoths had earlier been discovered on the Texas Gulf Coast, Brian Miles, paleontology curator at the Brazosport Museum of Natural Science, told The Brazosport Facts in Tuesday's online edition.

Digging that began Friday had by the weekend produced about 40 strands of clumped hair, presumably from the mammoth, said lead researcher Robson Bonnichsen, director of the Center for the Study of the First Americans at Texas A&M.

"It's highly unusual for this to be preserved," he told the Houston Chronicle.

Such samples would allow scientists to collect DNA from a Columbian mammoth for the first time, said Bonnichsen, and determine how closely it is related to the woolly mammoth. Other DNA samples were collected from the woolly, and some Texas A&M researchers have even talked of cloning the mammal.

A backhoe operator, Joe Kimble, said he was working in the pit in November 2003 when he came across a tusk, said Kenny Vernor, president of Vernor Material and Equipment Co. Kimble, 46, ran into a single tusk, but the scientific community had little interest in the discovery, said Vernor.

But he found a pair of tusks a short distance away about a week later. Researchers were down the next day, Vernor said.

Miles said part of the skull and miscellaneous bones were also found in addition to the tusks. The Columbian mammoth is a warmer climate cousin of the woolly mammoth.

The sand pit's owners have allowed archaeologists to cordon off an area of interest with a 50-by-50-foot fence, where they will dig for at least three or four more weekends, said Bonnichsen. Researchers plan to place the bones - or at least a cast of the bones - in the nearby Brazosport Museum of Natural Science.

Officials of ConocoPhillips are partnering with Vernor Material on the excavation.

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