Remains of five Ice Age mammoths discovered at Serbian coal mine

Serbian archaeologists have discovered a rare mammoth field containing the remains of at least five of the giant beasts that lived tens of thousands of years ago.

The discovery at the Kostolac coal mine, east of the Serbian capital of Belgrade, is the first of its kind in the region. It could offer important insight into the Ice Age in the Balkans, said Miomir Korac from Serbia’s Archaeology Institute.

“There are millions of mammoth fragments in the world, but they are rarely so accessible for exploration,” he said yesterday.

The remains were found during coal excavation about 20 metres below ground. Mr Korac said the mammoth field stretches over some 20 acres of sandy terrain.

In 2009, a well-preserved skeleton of a much older mammoth was found at the same site.

The bones discovered last month belong to the so-called woolly mammoth, which disappeared some 10,000 years ago, said Sanja Alaburic, a mammoth expert from Serbia’s Museum of Natural History.

Ms Alaburic explained that “this discovery is interesting because, unusually, there are many bones in one place.”