Bones of a Mammoth possibly found in Silicon Valley

July 15, 2005



University of California Berkeley scientists confirmed on Wednesday that a cluster of fossilized bones found in Silicon Valley are likely the remains of a mammoth.

The giant beast would have roamed the area between 10,000 and 40,000 years ago. A pair of elephant-like tusks, a huge pelvic bone and the animal's rib cage were found by an amateur naturalist while walking a dog along a canal near San Jose's Guadalupe River, near recent flood control dredging.

It could be the remains of a Columbian mammoth, according to paleontologists who expect to study the site like an archeological "dig," with shovels, sieves and brushes, during the summer of 2005.