Austria

As kids, at one point or the other, we've all heard stories of places built on graveyards. For a man in Austria, this came true. While renovating, he found a graveyard, not of humans, but of ancient mammoths under his house.

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Archaeological sensation

Researchers, as per BBC, are calling the find an "archaeological sensation".

The discovery was made by Andreas Pernerstorfer, a winemaker, while renovating his wine cellar. Initially, he thought the bones were "just a piece of wood left by my grandfather."

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However, he was in for a massive surprise. They turned out to be Stone Age mammoths.

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He reported his find to authorities and researchers from the Austrian Archaeological Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. The OeAW have concluded that there are at least three Stone Age mammoths buried under the house in the village of Gobelsburg, in the district of Krems, west of Vienna.

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"I thought it was just a piece of wood left by my grandfather. But then I dug it out a bit, and then I remembered that in the past my grandfather said he had found teeth. And then I immediately thought it was a mammoth," said Pernerstorfer, as quoted by BBC.

Researchers have been excavating the bones since the middle of May, and they believe the bones are between 30,000 and 40,000 years old.

"Such a dense bone layer of mammoths is rare," says Hannah Parow-Souchon, who is leading the excavation. "It's the first time we've been able to investigate something like this in Austria using modern methods."

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What makes the find an 'archaeological sensation'?

As per the Austrian Archaeological Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the last such find was made around 150 years ago, also in the district of Krems.

"During the excavation there, the cellars in question were completely cleared out. Other comparable sites in Austria and neighbouring countries were mostly excavated at least 100 years ago and have largely been lost to modern research," said the institute in a statement.

Researchers, as per the report, believe that the mammoths could have died on the spot they were found at, possibly hunted by humans. Once excavated, the bones will be taken to the Vienna Museum of Natural History for research.

(With inputs from agencies)