A superior incisor belonging to a woolly mammoth, contemporary with Homo sapiens populations, was discovered in a ravine in Romania. The incisor represents the largest piece of paleofauna in the heritage of the Buzău County Museum.
"The piece was recovered from the territory of Săpoca commune," said Daniel Costache, the director of the Buzău County Museum, according to Libertatea [https://www.libertatea.ro/stiri/descoperire-unica-rapa-langa-sapoca-buzau-animal-disparut-10-000-ani-5176527]. "It is an incisor, an ivory piece that comes from a specimen of woolly mammoth; it represents so far the largest piece of paleofauna in our institution."
In addition, a mammoth tusk nearly three meters long and over 350,000 years from the storage of the Palace of Culture in Iași, Romania will be restored and put on display. The tusk, the only one of its kind ever discovered in Romania, is expected to be ready for public display in the coming months.
Restorers are currently making a list of materials needed for the tusk's restoration, according to Gandul. The restoration process is anticipated to last two months, after which visitors to the Palace of Culture will be able to witness this remarkable artifact from a bygone era.
"It reached a height of 4.5 meters; it was a steppe mammoth because it liked to live in open areas. It was the largest mammoth on the territory of Europe," said Dr. Bogdan Haiduc, a doctor and geological engineer, according to Gandul. The tusk was found in 1956 in a clay pit in Holboca, six kilometers from Iași, and has been stored since 2008 in the depots of the Palace of Culture.
"The most common pieces are molars because, containing enamel, enamel is the strongest organic substance in the world," Haiduc also said, as reported by Gandul.
The woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) was a species that lived during the Ice Age. Woolly mammoths primarily fed on grasses and sedges and lived in the so-called mammoth steppe, characterized by a lack of trees or shrubs and a climate that allowed the existence of life and man. Female woolly mammoths were somewhat smaller, measuring between 2.6 and 2.9 meters in height and weighing up to four tons.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.