A Young Female Mammoth That Died Well Over 150,000 Years Ago... Found At The Bottom Of The Pacific, Way Off The Coast Of California.

The central question for me, at least (as perhaps. . . whimsically-depicted at right) -- would be just how did it end up under 10,000 feet of salty-ocean water -- and over 150 miles offshore, to boot. How?

Even 500 million years ago, the area in which it was found, resting. . . was a deep ocean-trench. And if the dating (100,000 to 200,000 years ago) holds up, no known "land bridge" would explain it. So -- either it was caught adrift, on an ice floe that ultimately melted, dropping it into the warmer ocean waters of the surface, off what is now California -- or, some early seafaring hominids were transporting the tusk alone, as a ritual item, by raft. . . and lost it (perhaps in a storm). But mammoths don't ordinarily walk 10,000 feet under the ocean. . . on their own. That much is certain. Here's a bit, of this week's discovery / announcement coverage:

. . .Scientists ultimately determined that the tusk belonged to a young female Columbian mammoth, possibly one that lived during the Lower Paleolithic era, which spanned 2.7 million to 200,000 years ago. Researchers are still working to determine the creature's precise age, along with more details about its life -- including its diet and how often it reproduced. . . .

So -- rather than sinking on a melting ice floe, I'll prefer to imagine some distant fore-bearer of the Inuit or Tonga. . . with it lashed to a raft. . . eventually tipping over and losing the cargo. Of course, I realize that is decidedly far fetched, but these scientists might just find marks -- of stone-flaked tools, on its surfaces, as they clean it up, ever so gingerly. We shall see. So, go -- and be thankful for all the possibilities life offers us -- even these as yet un-discerned ancient life-mysteries. . . of ocean-faring mammoths, and do be excellent to one another. . . .

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