KEMEROVO — A huge fragment of a mammoth tusk has been dug out by an excavator in southwest Siberia's Kemerovo Region, the head of a local museum said.
"An operator of an excavator, collecting clay from the depth of about 2.5-3 meters, found an object resembling a mammoth tusk in the bucket of his vehicle," said Anatoly Vasilyev, head of the local history and ethnography museum.
He said Tuesday that the tusk, albeit well-preserved, broke into several fragments when it was removed from the earth.
A fragment measuring about 50 centimeters was taken to the museum and will later be handed over to scientists for a comprehensive study.
Its age is tentatively estimated at between 1 million and 1.5 million years.
Excavator operators took smaller fragments as souvenirs.
Clay extraction continues in the area, but workers have been asked to be more careful.
