The most complete remains of mastodons found in Granada
The Baza site becomes the richest in Europe for fossils of these extinct elephants that lived more than 4.5 million years ago.
BarcelonaThe multidisciplinary team that has worked until this month at the Baza-1 site, in the province of Granada, has extracted new records of mammoths and an extinct species of mastodon. These remains make this Andalusian site the richest in Europe in fossils of this type of extinct elephant, in addition to having fossils of at least three mammoths, rhinoceroses, two species of three-toed horses, antelopes, giant bones and the last cofe.
The ninth excavation campaign, focused on this European Pliocene site, has allowed us to delve deeper into this paleontological reference point, which is between 4.5 and 4.6 million years old, in which remains of large vertebrates and other smaller fossils have been found. This ninth campaign has allowed us to extract 240 new records, especially related to the species Mammoth and Anancus arvernensis, which is also an extinct genus, mastodons similar to modern elephants that grew to three meters and had tusks four meters long.
The site corresponds to the lower Pliocene and the work of this campaign has focused on extending the excavation cut to the upper levels of Stratigraphic Unit 5, which entails slowing down the tasks to ensure rigorous geological control. During the fieldwork, remains corresponding to large mammals of the elephant family have been located, among which a very straight fragment of a mastodon defense, more than a meter long, stands out.
The team has also located remains of at least four individuals ofAnancus arvernensis, mastodons of different ages marked by their jaw, which has allowed to define that one would have been around 70 years old and died around that age, another was a young adult and another, with unworn teeth, was a child.
The campaign, financed by the Baza City Council and part of a project approved by the Regional Government to study the Pliocene of the Baza Basin, has had the help of paleontologist Bienvenido Martínez, in charge of coordinating a multidisciplinary team together with Antoni Canals (IPHES, RoviM University and Virgen).