A group of scientists years ago discovered a cemetery with numerous remains of one of the largest mammals that have ever walked on Earth, the Palaeoloxodonin a quarry in Pampore, India.
As stated in the newspaper The Suna giant skull of this animal, very similar to an elephant with straight tusks, was extracted from the quarry, which was surrounded by fossils and stone tools used by ancient humans.
At that time, investigators were able to determine that the beast’s death occurred a few years ago. 300,000 years after skull fractures gave scientists a rare opportunity to look inside.
Now, in a new studyscientists concluded that the giant elephant was sick at the time of its death. The doctor Simon Parfitta human evolution researcher at the Natural History Museum in London, said: “When we looked inside the damaged section, we could see that there was something strange inside the skull.”
“The skulls of the elephants are filled with air spaces to make the head lighter, but the bone along the sinus cavities had grown into an abnormal, spongy structure,” Parfitt continues.
“We believe this indicates that the individual suffered from sinusitis, possibly due to an infection that spread from another part of the body or due to a severe respiratory illness,” the doctor adds.
Stone tools and broken elephant bones found in the quarry suggested that humans They could have had something to do with his death.
Parfitt says this offered new insights after skeletal fragments found at the site suggested ancient humans They crushed the bones with heavy rocks to reach the nutritional marrow inside.
“Discoveries such as these have called the attention of archaeologists on the region, who are now looking more closely for new sites of carnage,” adds the scholar.
“Given the size of these animals and the relatively small size of the human groups, it is unlikely that they would have been able to completely dismember this elephant before it started to rot“he adds.
“This means that probably They chose the best cuts of meat rather than stripping them from the carcass, so there is much less chance of marks being left on the bone,” concludes Parfitt.
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