Mammoth remains discovered near Ruse village due to low Danube water level

This article is published under an agreement between Armenpress and the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA)

Specialists from the Regional History Museum in Ruse began recovering and transporting here on Thursday the ancient mammoth remains discovered on the bank of the Danube River near the village of Ryahovo, Ruse Region. The discovery was made possible by the river's low water level. Once the fieldwork is completed, the remains will be conserved and examined at the museum.

The discovery was initially reported by a local resident who brought photographs of the unusual bones to the attention of the authorities. Following notification of municipal environmental officials and the Regional History Museum in Ruse, specialists inspected the site on Wednesday.

Ryahovo Mayor Hristina Ivanova said the area was particularly interesting from a historical perspective.

“Over the years, various finds have been discovered here, including animal remains, vessels and other objects,” she said.

“The news spread very quickly. At first, we did not want to raise unnecessary expectations before we were certain about what exactly had been found. After the specialists carried out their initial inspection, the information quickly reached the media. Now the entire village knows about it - and, in this case, so does all of Bulgaria,” Ivanova said.

Fieldwork to recover the remains began Thursday. Krasimir Kirov, curator in the Nature Department of the museum, said there was a possibility that the remains had been carried there by the river.

“The area near Ryahovo probably represents a kind of deposit where the flow of the Danube carried and accumulated the remains of various animals, not only mammoths. The characteristics of the terrain probably led to their accumulation here, creating sort of a ‘storage bank’. Of course, it is also possible that some of the remains belonged to animals that lived in this area,” Kirov explained.

The preliminary working hypothesis is that the remains belonged to a woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius).

“The animal was impressive in size - it reached nearly five metres in height and weighed more than seven to eight tonnes. A model of the same species can be seen at the Eco Museum with Aquarium at the Regional History Museum in Ruse, where visitors can get an idea of its scale,” Kirov said.

So far, specialists have identified a lower jaw, tusks, a shoulder blade, ribs and other bone fragments. It is possible that a significant part of the skeleton is still buried underground.

“Dating the animal is difficult, but the species we believe this to be existed until around 7,000 to 10,000 years ago and appeared approximately 500,000 to 800,000 years ago. It was a widespread species that lived in a climate radically different from today's - significantly colder,” the expert said.

According to Kirov, the bones are not in good condition because, after spending a long time in a water environment, they begin to deteriorate when exposed to air. This is why the recovery process is being carried out carefully to ensure that the remains can be successfully transported and conserved.

“There is another interesting feature. The colour of the bones can provide information. If they are very dark, almost black or dark brown, this often suggests that the animal died in a swampy environment. We are talking about events that occurred thousands of years ago, and the colouring is due to the effect of the mud. We have observed similar features in other fossils found in the area. For now, however, this remains a working theory,” Kirov added.

Earlier, Regional History Museum Director Prof. Nikolay Nenov told BTA that local residents had alerted the authorities to the discovery and that specialists from the museum's Eco Museum had initially identified a lower jaw, two tusks and what was probably a rib from a mammoth.

Nenov said the preliminary evidence suggested that the remains may not have been carried there by the river. Numerous similar finds have previously been discovered in the area and recovered from river sediments using dredging equipment. The current discovery is different, however, as the remains were concentrated in one location, raising the possibility that the animal died there.

Scientists had previously indicated that the area could contain similar finds. One hypothesis is that the site was a swamp thousands of years ago where the animal died.

Following conservation and examination, the remains will be put on display at the Eco Museum with Aquarium at the Regional History Museum in Ruse, if their condition allows.

Kirov said another interesting feature of the area was its fossilized trees, some of which are several million years old.

“We most often find fragments of palms and other species associated with swamp ecosystems, but not entire trunks. They are very distinctive - it is easy to mistake them for ordinary stones. We once had a case in which a company involved in dredging operations used a similar fossilized tree to prop open a door, without realizing what it was. It eventually became part of the museum's collection,” the specialist said.