Mexico: Archaeologists find earliest human-made mammoth traps

W/S Outside Tultepec dig site, near Mexico City
M/S Outside Tultepec digging site
W/S Archaeologists inside Tultepec dig site
M/S Archaeologists inside Tultepec dig site
C/U Archaeologist digging
SOT, Luis Cordoba Barradas, Archaeologist Directorate of Archaeological Rescue of INAH (Spanish):
"Early this year, in January, the town hall of Tultepec was carrying out some excavation works on this site and they gave us notice. Together with the historian Juana Antonieta Zuniga, chronicler of Tultepec, we came to visit and we confirmed that three of the excavation profiles had mammoth bones."
M/S Archaeologists inside Tultepec digging site
C/U Archaeologist digging
M/S Mammoth bones
SOT, Luis Cordoba Barradas, Archaeologist Directorate of Archaeological Rescue of INAH (Spanish):
"Here more than 800 mammoth bones have been recovered, corresponding to 14 animals of this type, but in addition, the important information is we can see evidence that prehistoric hunters dug traps to catch the mammoths. They were about 25 meters in diameter and 1.70 meters deep. This already implies that these groups of hunters had a very strong organisation. First to locate the places, then to dig the traps and then guide the mammoths to fall into them, kill them and cut them up to feast on their meat."
M/S Archaeologists inside Tultepec dig site
M/S Archaeologists inside Tultepec dig site
SOT, Luis Cordoba Barradas, Archaeologist Directorate of Archaeological Rescue of INAH (Spanish):
"In the other discoveries made in countries of Europe, in Russia, in Ukraine where there are accumulations of mammoth, those were natural traps, swamps or ravines for example but in the case of Tultepec these traps were dug by hunters."
M/S Mammoth bones
C/U Mammoth bones
SOT, Luis Cordoba Barradas, Archaeologist Directorate of Archaeological Rescue of INAH (Spanish):
"With the volcanic ashes that were found, we estimate it to be 14,700 years old."
M/S Archaeologists inside Tultepec dig site
C/U Archaeologist digging
M/S Archaeologists inside Tultepec dig site
M/S Archaeologists inside Tultepec dig site
SCRIPT
Archaeologists in Mexico have discovered the earliest known human-made mammoth traps in Tultepec, in the outskirts of Mexico City, dating almost 15,000 years. So far, more than 800 mammoth bones from 14 different mammoths have been recovered, as seen in footage shot on Sunday.
While scientists were excited about the bones, the most remarking findings in this discovery were the hunting traps, which seem to have been entirely made by humans instead of using natural terrain, according to Luis Cordoba Barradas, the archaeologist in charge of the project.
"In the other discoveries made in countries of Europe, in Russia, in Ukraine where there are accumulations of mammoth, those were natural traps, swamps or ravines for example but in the case of Tultepec these traps were dug by hunters," he said.
According to him, the evidence suggests a group of 20 to 30 hunters were involved.
Developers made the unexpected discovery in January, finding the bones as intended to turn the land into a local garbage dump.