Cranium, jrg. 10, no. 1, pag. 61-67, februari 1993 The Condover mmmoth site: excavation and research 1986-93 A.M. Lister Summary A chance discovery at Condover, Shropshire in west central England in 1986 led to the excavation of an almost complete adult skeleton of mammoth (Mammuthusprimigenius (Blum.)), together with partial skeletons of at least three juveniles. remains The remains occurred in a kettle hole infill and date to c. 12,500 BP, within the late glacial interstadial. Organic the excel- within the kettle hole deposits give a detailed picture of environmental change through the Late Glacial, and lent preservation of the mammoth skeletons has encouraged multidisciplinary research at the osteological, histological and molecularlevels. Samenvatting in in in 1986 leidde het van een Een toevallige ontdekking Condover, Shropshire Engeland tot opgraven bijna kompleet skelet van een volwassen mammoet (Mammuthus primigenius (Blum.)), samen met gedeeltelijke skeletten van minstens uit hebben ouderdom drie jongen. De resten zijn afkomstig een opvulling van een ”kettle hole” en een van ongeveer 12.500 v. Chr. Organische resten afkomstig van de sedimenten uit de ”kettle hole” geven een gedetailleerd beeld van de veranderingen tijdens de laatste ijstijd. De uitstekende staat van conservering van de skeletten maakte een multidiscipli- nair moleculair nivo. onderzoek mogelijk op osteologisch, histologisch en Discovery and excavation The story of the Condover mammoths began on Satur- day 27th September 1986, when Mrs Eve Roberts was walking with her dogs around the perimeter of a wor- of Condover in king gravel pit near the village Shropshi- re (Fig. 1). With no special interest in palaeontology or archaeology, but of an observant and inquisitive nature, she noticed some large bones projecting from a pile of mud, and on returning hometelephoned the Shropshire Mr G.I. her dis- Museums Officer, McCabe, to report visited the site and the covery. He recognising possible importance of the find, contacted Dr G.R. Coope of Birmingham University. It soon became evident that the remains of the skeleton of were part an elephantid, pro- bably a mammoth, and ARC gravel company agreed to work in that of the allow cease part pit to an emergency excavation. much of the Condover sands and Over site, glacial gra- vels occur close to the surface, and are being commerci- ally exploited. In the area of the mammoth fmds, how- filled basin of and 50-75 ever, a clay peat deposits, some m in diameter, had been encountered (Fig. 2). The bo- nes were uncovered by large mechanical digging machi- field at the the and nes, standing on a edge of pit dig- the ging into the pit to remove 'useless' clay andpeat. At had hit instead of a certain depth they the bones, but stopping, the workmen had dug them all up, throwing them into the spoil heap on the field behind them.Thus articulated skeletons became and of the jumbled many the bones broken, removing much information which Fig. 1: Map of Western England and Wales, showing the position of could have been retrieved in situ. Nonetheless, a great the Condover site. The southern limit of the late Devensian ice ad- deal of scientific research has been possible on the bo- vance is indicated as a dashed line. nes and sediments, remarkable considering the condi- 1: Kaart West Wales Fig. van Engeland en waarin de vindplaats tions of excavation. Condover is De aangegeven. Zuidgrens van de Devensian ijsuitbrei- is ding aangegeven met een stippellijn. 61 2: in the of the the Fig. The Condover gravel pit area mammoth finds. A machine working from approximately the position of one in the photo- had down and encountered the skeletons the marked graph dug in area with a asterisk, turing and throwing them onto a spoil heap where the figu- time of this res are standing. At the photograph,slumping had obscured much of the section, but the upper clay and peat horizons can be seen at the top of the face. Photo author. 2: Overzicht van de Condover. De machine is Fig. groeve ongeveer op de plaats vanwaar de skeletten op een hoop zijn gegooid. De bovenste klei- de het is het dat deze foto lagen zijn te zien, rest van profiel onduidelijk op moment werd genomen (foto: A. Lister). A few days after the initial discovery, announcements in Geology the local media brought forth a small army of willing Detailed geological studies at the site have been under- volunteers, who together with Shropshire Museums Ser- taken by Dr J.D. Scourse (Bangor). The sediment-filled vice staff began the arduous process of digging through basin within which the mammoths occurred is interpre- the mountainous spoil heaps looking for bones (Fig. 3). ted 'kettle of which known from the Mechanical used of as a hole', many are diggers were to pick up batches the filled the surrounding area, some up to modern surface, heavy clay deposit and spread it more thinly over the others containing water. Kettle holes are for- where it could be sorted with This standing field, spades. process med as a result of large, buried blocks of ice being left continued sporadically through October and November As the block and resulted in of by a retreating glacier. slowly melts, over- 1986, the recovery many bones, inclu- sediments crater-like structure the first that indicated the of lying collapse, forming a ding presence juvenile as which subsequently fill with sediment. Evidence of well as adult mammothremains. may this collapse at Condover is seen in the contact surfaces After a break, during which preliminary scientific stu- between the basin infill and the dies further underlying gravels, were carried out, excavations were moun- which dip towards the centre of the basin at of ted three weeks from angles over June to July 1987. At this to 60° from the horizontal. At its the Condo- time up centre also, and again in January 1988, a programme of ver kettle hole is some ten metres deep. geological investigation at the site incuded the mechani- cal cutting of clean sections, and logging a series of bo- The Condover site lies just within the limit of the main is believed that almost bones reholes. It all present in ice advance of the Devensian Cold Stage (Fig. 1), which the spoil heap have been recovered, but others certainly occurred c. 20-15 kyr ago. It was the retreat of this gla- remainin bottomof the original pit, now flooded. cier which led to the formationof the local kettle holes, The excavation and original processing of the bones was so a very late date for the mammoths, post-dating 15 kyr largely co-ordinated by G.I. McCabe, who also organis- BP, is likely from the geological setting alone, and has ed an exhibition on the mammoths on behalfof Shrops- been confirmed by radiocarbon dating (see later). hire County Council. Scientific work, involving over thirty specialists, has The lower part of the kettle hole infill (Fig. 4, units been co-ordinated G.R. and the shows alternation the and by Coope present aut- 3&4) an of, on one hand, clay hor, and will & be fully presented elsewhere (LISTER silt layers indicating standing or very slow water condi- of COOPE, in preparation). Some the main results are tions, and on the other hand, gravel horizons suggesting summarisedhere. that times the basin at was part of a fluval system. The horizon within which the mammoth bones occurred 62 Fig. 3: Dr Russell Coope unearths another bone from the spoil heap, as television cameras watch from above. Photo Shropshire County Council. Fig. 3: Dr Russell Coope maakt eenbot schoon. (Foto: Shropshire County Council). unit dark silt about mineral vivianite. To avoid the bo- (Fig. 4, 5) was a grey a metre deep cracking on drying, and five below the modern land surface. treated with dilute of some metres nes were a aqueous solution PVA Very few bones were found in situ within the pit, but before being allowed to slowly dry out (Fig. 5). those found on the spoil heap were generally coated The osteology of the skeletons has been the responsibi- with the characteristic dark grey silt, and pollen analysis lity of the author. Approximately four hundred speci- of sediment dug out of bones gave a perfect match with mens were recovered from the site, but because of brea- in situ samples from that horizon. kage during excavation, these represented fewer actual The upper part of the sequence, above the mammoth which had bones to be reconstructed like a giant jigsaw horizon, comprised an alternation of clay layers with Of the adult mammoth skeleton have all of units puzzle. we highly organic peaty deposits (Fig. 2; Fig. 4, 6-8). the major limb bones (Fig. 6) and about 50% of the Within one of the peat layers, an associated skeleton of hand and foot bones, the lower jaws, two hyoid bones, red deer (Cervus elaphus) i was recovered. The age of six of the seven neck vertebrae, seventeen of the nine- these levels will be discussed later. teen thoracics, four of the five lumbars, two tail verte- The mammoth skeletons brae, the sacrum and pelvic girdle, thirtysix of the thir- eight ribs, and the complete sternum. The chiefelement The mammoth when cleaned of bones, sediment, were a is the of which lacking cranium, no part was recovered chocolate brown color of fresh unusually appearance, of except fragments tusk and parts of the second and leading one colleague to remark that they looked as third molars. There is no duplication of adult skeletal though they had come "straight from a butcher's shop".