For many people, digging out prehistoric mammoth bones could be new and daunting task, but professor Loren Davis 70 Oregon State University students consider themselves lucky for holding 12,000-year-old animal bones.

The dream opportunity was offered to them when construction crews accidentally found some mammoth bones while working near the north end zone of Reser Stadium (Oregon state football field) in Corvallis. The bones of extinct animals were found about 10 feet underground in what experts believe was a pond a long time ago.

Soon after discovering the bones, the construction members stopped the work and called Loren Davis, an assistant anthropology professor at OSU. According to Davis, when he first saw the bones, he had no idea that the discovery would be a big deal.

“Usually when we get these calls, the bones aren’t from extinct animals. Usually when we get these calls, the bones aren’t from extinct animals”, Davis continued. The most mysterious thing unearthed was a 5-foot femur which Davis thinks belonged to a juvenile mammoth.

The way bones were stored, it didn’t see they were fused together, according to Davis. It shows that the femur was of a child or young adult mammoth which belonged to an elephant family, he added. Apart from mammoth femur, some other bones were unearthed at the site. Other remains include, a shoulder blade, upper limb bones, teeth, ribs, a pelvis and foot bones, the professor explained.

The university students got an opportunity to see and examine the bones under the surveillance of Mike Full. He told the anthropology, zoology and other OSU students how to handle the fragile bones. According to Full, the consistency of the bones is a lot like mud. Most of them could fall apart easily.