Prehistoric mammoth bone found in professor's garage
Finland's most recent mammoth bone finding was made in an unusual place, namely in the garage of Professor of Genetics Marja Simonsuuri-Sorsa's home in the Espoo suburb of Tapiola. A piece of a bone, a humerus from a mammoth's left front leg, lay hidden in a cardboard box for over 40 years.
Simonsuuri-Sorsa was a young biologist in 1960, when she found a large piece of bone in a summer cottage potato patch in Suomusjärvi. She had just finished a course in paleontology and wondered excitedly whether this could be a mammoth bone.
"Don't be so daft", her immediate friends had responded to the fascinating thought, and the finding was forgotten at the back of Simonsuuri-Sorsa's garage for decades, until she decided to move.
"Now that I am retired I figured I have nothing to lose", the retired professor laughs.
She took the bone, neatly wrapped in a copy of Helsingin Sanomat from August 28th, 1960, to a meeting that was also attended by Professor of Paleontology Mikael Fortelius.
"Boy, did his eyes widen when he saw it", Simonsuuri-Sorsa says with a grin.
Finland's most recent mammoth bone finding prior to this one was made in December 2005 at the Vuosaari dock area. Based on the ocean diatom deposits on the bone, its age was estimated at around 120,000 years. Most bones found in Finland date back no further than 25,000 years.
"I would not be surprised if this one turned out to be older than usual, too. It seems to have sediment deposits on it uncharacteristic of a Suomusjärvi clay field", Fortelius comments.
The bone may have been buried in the ground elsewhere, and has been carried to Suomusjärvi during the ice age.
Fortelius encourages people to keep their eyes open for ancient bones, for example, in conjunction with construction work. That is when most findings are made.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 5.10.2006 - TODAY |
 Prehistoric mammoth bone found in professor's garage
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