Nina Evans, a seven-year-old from Ipswich, found a piece of bone on Felixstowe beach on Easter Saturday while looking through rocks with her father and brother. An AI app, after assessing photos of the find, said the bone may have belonged to a mammoth. Professor Ben Garrod said the bone could potentially be from a mammoth, but it is also possible it came from a multitude of other large mammals, such as Irish elk, aurochs, wild horse, or rhino.
Professor Ben Garrod said the bone is old, sub-fossilised, and probably Pleistocene, most likely between 100,000 and half a million years old. The exact age within that range and the specific species, such as mammoth or Irish elk, remain unknown. Professor Ben Garrod said that when the animal was walking around Suffolk, it could have walked all the way to mainland Europe because the North Sea wasn't there then.
It's from something bigger than a cow, from a mammoth, Irish elk and aurochs to more unusual stuff like wild horse or rhino.
According to UK Fossils, Suffolk is well known for its fossils from the Pleistocene era, including those belonging to mammoths. David Evans takes his children to places like Felixstowe and Southwold every couple of weeks to see what they can find. Nina Evans has hidden the bone in a special box in her safe in her bedroom and is very protective of it.
Whether the bone will be formally analyzed by experts beyond the initial assessment is unclear, and the accuracy of the AI app's identification has not been confirmed.
So far as I can say, it is old, sub-fossilised, and probably Pleistocene - it's a massive ballpark, but most likely somewhere between 100,000 and half a million years old.
When it was walking around Suffolk, it could have walked all the way to mainland Europe, as the North Sea wasn't there then.