Published 19:47 IST, November 7th 2019

Human built 'mammoth traps' made 15,000 years ago discovered

Mexican researchers from the National Institute of Anthropology and History discovered 'mammoth traps' which were created by humans 15,000 years ago for hunting

World News
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The anthropologists of Mexico have announced that they found two pits dug 15,000 years ago built by humans to trap mammoths. Mexican researchers from the National Institute of Anthropology and History disclosed on November 6 that the human-made pits were found during excavations on the land which was used to be a garbage dump. It was also found out that those huge pits were filled with bones of nearly 14 mammoths in the area of Tultepec which lies north of Mexico City and some were supposedly even butchered.

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'Mammoth traps'

The pits which were discovered were about 6 feet deep and 25 yards wide in diameter. The researches of the National institute said that the hunters might have chased the mammoths into the traps which were created to capture them. Along with mammoths, other species that went extinct in the Americas were a horse and a camel, and remains of their bones were also found by the scientists. The recently discovered traps for the giant animals were also the first of its kind and is also an unexpected context of mammoth hunting. The traps also a touchstone on what the scientists had imagined or studied about the hunter-gatherer relationship with the giants.

Not random or eventual hunting

Reportedly, during the press conference, Sánchez Nava said on behalf of the anthropologist Diego Prieto Hernández, general director of the Institute that the recent findings have changed how researchers viewed early humans. These finds showed that early humans hunted mammoths and only attacked them after the gigantic animal fell in the traps created by the humans. Furthermore, to elaborate on the background of the recent finding, the coordinator of Archaeology recalled the exploration three years ago in San Antonia where they found an almost complete bone of one these mammoths, and it later led to the opening of Museum of Mamut, the same place where the conference was held.