30,000-Year-Old Mammoth Bones Found Under Austrian Wine Cellar

A man in Austria undertook a renovation project on his property and was surprised to find several mammoth bones. Andreas Pernerstorfer made the incredible discovery at his wine cellar in the village of Gobelsburg in March, CNN reported.

Researchers from the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW), called the finding an "archaeological sensation," because nowhere else in Austria are such bones found.

Mammoths are extinct ancestors of modern elephants, Smithsonian Magazine reported. Throughout the world, experts are looking for remains of these mammoths to understand how early humans interacted with them.

As per them, the mammoth bones in Gobelsburg are around 30,000 and 40,000 years old, CNN reported. Similar sites containing traces of mammoth in Austria and neighboring countries had been excavated 100 years ago, and are no longer available for research.

The Gobelsburg findings are one of a kind, as for the first time mammoth remains from the country will go through modern methods of analysis.

"It’s the first time we’ve been able to investigate something like this in Austria using modern methods. It is a unique opportunity for research," said Hannah Parow-Souchon, a researcher at the OeAW, in a press release, CNN reported.

Parow-Souchon shared that Pernerstorfer wanted to renovate his cellar to make the whole thing structurally more uniform, CNN reported. "He wanted to level the floor of his wine cellar because it was sloping and he removed some concrete in the center," she said.

During his renovation work, Pernerstorfer stumbled upon some bones, and after remembering his grandfather's stories decided to contact the Federal Monuments Office, which referred him to the OeAW, CNN reported.

"More or less immediately he found the bones, which he initially thought were wood. Then he looked more closely and remembered a tale from his grandfather who in the sixties extended the cellar and found some mammoth molars," Parow-Souchon explained.

Parow-Souchon and her team began exploring the site, and ended up finding at least 300 bones, which were densely packed together, CNN reported. "It quickly became apparent that it wasn’t just a few mammoth bones but very many mammoth bones," she said.

The discovery led to some rare items like the lingual (tongue) bone of a mammoth, CNN reported. "We think we have mostly the complete animals. They’re not in anatomical connection but we do have probably all parts," Parow-Souchon added.

In addition to the mammoth remains, the archeologists also found charcoal and stone artifacts, Smithsonian Magazine reported. Roughly 150 years ago, a neighboring wine cellar in the Gobelsburg site was found to contain charcoal, flint artifacts, and jewelry. Experts claim that there could be some connection between the two cellars. 

According to archeologists, the site contains the remains of three mammoths, CNN reported. Parow-Souchon was very excited to know about this rare discovery in Austria and wanted to be part of the project.

"I’ve worked in many parts of the world and have never seen so many mammoths in one place," Parow-Souchon said, The Washington Post reported.

Before her work in Gobelsburg, Parow-Souchon never had the opportunity to excavate mammoth bones, CNN reported. "I love being an archaeologist. I’ve excavated lots of exciting things but I always wanted to excavate a mammoth," said Parow-Souchon, CNN reported. "I’m thrilled, I can’t deny it," she said.

The excavation has been financed by the Federal Monuments Office and the province of Lower Austria, CNN reported. The objective of the researchers is to find out whether these mammoths were killed by stone-age humans and the methods that were applied to hunt these animals. 

"We know that humans hunted mammoths, but we still know very little about how they did it," said Parow-Souchon, CNN reported. She added that her team believed that a trap might have been placed on the site to capture these mammoths. 

After the experts are done with the analysis, the bones will be given to the Natural History Museum Vienna for restoration, CNN reported.