Extinct Ice Age Mammoth Tusk Uncovered at Private Site in Seattle

While working on a project at a private site in Seattle, construction workers unearthed a huge tusk of an ice age mammoth.

The fossil of a tusk dating back to the Ice Age was retrieved from a construction site in South Lake Union, Seattle, Tuesday Feb 11, 2014. Paleontologists from the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture were called to investigate the rare fossil.

After carefully examining the fossil, the paleontologists released a statement saying they are confident that the rare fossil resembles a tusk of the extinct Woolly Mammoth, which existed during the Pliocene epoch.

According to King5.com, the fossil was discovered on a private property and the future of this fossil is based on the decision of the landowner.

The Producer of King5 Seattle took to twitter to announce the discovery of the fossilized tusk of a woolly mammoth.

Crazy! Construction in Seattle turns up 10k yr old tusk! Burke Museum says it's from a woolly mammoth or mastodon. pic.twitter.com/hLS3mcCre3

— Kiera Howard (@KieraLanae) February 12, 2014

Christian Sidor of Seattle's Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture was quoted by CBC.News saying this was "a rare opportunity to directly study Seattle's ancient natural history."

The paleontologists further explained that the giant extinct relative of the elephant existed in Washington until nearly 10,000 years ago and their fossils have been retrieved from sites spread across Western Washington.

Seattle Times reports that the paleontologists at Burke Museum offered to excavate the fossil and give interested scientists access to examining the fossil.

The prehistoric giant Woolly Mammoth is also called the Tundra Mammoth. The 9 feet tall giants lived some 1.8 Million years ago and went extinct about 11,000 years ago. These Ice Age elephants were spread across Europe, Asia and North America. They fed on grass, ferns, shrubs and mosses and had a thick fur.

Recently, a complete fossilized mammoth was discovered in Mexico. It was nearly 30 years old at the time of its death. In the year 2012, archaeologists also uncovered a third of the remains of a hairy woolly mammoth in France. It was the first to be discovered in 150 years. Fossilized remains of the extinct mammoth are common in Siberia.

CLICK HERE to view images of the newly discovered tusk.