Wooly mammoth bone found in gravel pit

Experts at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum have confirmed that workers at a gravel pit found a bone from a wooly mammoth.

The discovery was near Bradwell, Sask., about 35 kilometres southeast of Saskatoon in July.

"This was a fairly good portion of the bone,"the museum's Harold Bryant told CBC Radio Host Stefani Langenegger Thursday. "It is a mammoth's tibia ... a part of the hind limb."

Bryant said the fragment is mostly the shaft of the bone, minus the ends.

"It's not crushed, it's quite nicely preserved. Often the bones are mashed up."

A staff member at the museum went to see what else might be in the pit, but did not immediately find more.

Bryant said if the gravel pit is used, again, people have been asked to keep an eye out for more fossils.

The 22 kilogram bone is estimated to bebetween 30,000 to100,000 years old.

"Anytime we can find a new bone it can tell a little bit more about that animal," Bryant said. For instance, measurements of the bone can lead to approximations for the size of the entire animal.

"Our primary goal right now is to preserve the bone," he said. After that it will form part of the museum's collection, which could lead to its being on display at some point.