MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Fantastic prehistoric cemetery of extinct giants found at construction site of future Mexican airport

Remains of dozens of the extinct mammoth giants and other prehistoric creatures skeletons have been found in Zumpango on an ancient lake bed

The remains of dozens of the extinct mammoth giants and other prehistoric creatures skeletons have been found in Zumpango on the northern edge of Mexico City, which sits on an ancient lake bed and where a new airport was to be built.

The authorities say they have kept a careful watch to ensure the precious remains are preserved during work on the airport, which President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has promised will be inaugurated in March 2022.

Experts believe the mammoths were drawn to the area by food and water provided by a lake that existed in prehistoric times.

“The place had a lot of natural resources, enough for these individuals to survive for a long time and for many generations,” said archaeologist Araceli Yanez.

In winter the lake area became muddy, trapping the giant mammals who starved, she said. “It attracted a large number of mammoths, and they got stuck, as is the case with this individual, and died here,” Yanez added.

The lake was also very good for preserving the remains.

Mexico has been the scene of surprising mammoth discoveries before. In the 1970s, workers building the Mexico City subway found a mammoth skeleton while digging on the capital's north side.

In 2012, workers digging to build a wastewater treatment plant outside the capital discovered hundreds of bones belonging to mammoths and other Ice Age animals.

And last year archaeologists found the skeletons of 14 mammoths in Tultepec, near the site of the new airport.

Some bore signs that the animals had been hunted, leading experts to conclude at the time that they had found “the world's first mammoth trap.”

The government began construction of the new aviation hub in 2019 at the Santa Lucia military airbase, months after canceling work on another partially completed airport.

Lopez Obrador, who ran on a pro-austerity, anti-graft platform, had criticized that project championed by his predecessor Enrique Pena Nieto as an unnecessary mega-project marred by corruption.

His administration has tasked the military with overseeing construction of the new airport, which will house a museum showcasing the mammoth skeletons and other ancient remains.