A group of students have discovered the remains of a mammoth in the remote northeast Russian republic of Yakutia, a spokesman from the local education department said on Friday.
The students discovered the prehistoric remains while searching for charcoal to use in their creative metalwork course.
"One of the students was digging with a shovel when she ran into something hard," the spokesman said. "The students began digging around to see what it was and pulled out a large section of the hip bone of a big mammal."
Archaeologists and ethnographers were immediately brought to the site and confirmed that the bones belonged to a mammoth.
Excavations will begin at the sight in August 2011, the spokesman said.
Mammoths, giant mammals known for their furry coats, huge tusks and giant dimensions, are thought to have appeared on Earth some 4.8 million years ago. They are believed to be close relatives of the modern-day elephant.
While most woolly mammoths died out approximately 12,000 years ago, its dwarf version survived on Russia's Wrangel Island, located in the Arctic Ocean, until 1700 BC.
Well-preserved mammoth remains have been found across Siberia.
YAKUTSK, May 27 (RIA Novosti)
