Elephant Ancestor May have Lived Longer Than Once Thought

When early humans gathered around to the fire for dinner, they may have served up a nice slice of gomphothere steak. That's at least what researchers are suggesting after discovering the bones of elephant ancestors at an archeological site in northwestern Mexico.

The gomphothere, an ancient ancestor of the elephant, was thought to have been long gone from North America by the time humans arrived. However, now researchers have found artifacts of the prehistoric Clovis culture along with the remains of two gompohotheres, suggesting that early humans likely hunted and ate them.

The discovery was detailed in study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

"At first, just based on the size of the bone, we thought maybe it was a bison, because the extinct bison were a little bigger than our modern bison," co-author Vance holiday explained in a statement.

However, after closer inspection, the researchers realized that they had gomphothere bones before them.

"This is the first archaeological gomphothere found in North America, and it's the only one known," added Holliday.

According to the study, ranchers first stumbled upon bones in northwestern Sonora, Mexico in 2007, and quickly contacted experts to check out the site.

Quick excavation work revealed that the remains of two juvenile gomphotheres were buried among evidence of the Clovis early humans. The bones date back approximately 13,400 years, making them the last known elephant ancestors in North America.

The Clovis artifacts found alongside the remains - spear tips, cutting tools, and flint flakes from tool-making - similarly dated back 13,400 years, making the archeological site one of the two oldest Clovis sites in North America.

"This is the first Clovis gomphothere, it's the first archaeological gomphothere found in North America, it's the first evidence that people were hunting gomphotheres in North America, and it adds another item to the Clovis menu," Holliday said proudly.

Not bad for a single site's dig.