The museum of the mammoth of the «Military City» of Santa Lucía Recently it was inaugurated at the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) and although it was carried out without a public ceremony, it is currently one of the most exciting tourist attractions in the city. This museum It was designed with the goal of exhibiting the archaeological remains that were found and rescued in the perimeter by specialists from the specialists of the National Institute of Anthropology and History during the construction of Santa Lucía airport. Currently this enclosure already has open doors for all visitors who want to attend.
Mexico was mammoth land 14,000 years ago. Bettmann / Getty images
The prehistory of fauna in Mexico
According to the hypothesis of Dr. Salvador Pulido Méndez, director of archaeological rescue of the INAHthe records of prehistory in Mexico have determined that there were ancient islets that excelled in the great complex of Lagos de Texcoco, specifically in Lake Xaltocan. It is believed that these spaces were populated by different pre -Hispanic peoples and that more than 10,000 years ago they were part of the ecological niche of mammoths and mastodontes. And from there it is believed that many of the mammoths that were found in the work of the New Airport.
«We have the finding of Pleistocene Fauna, specifically mammoths and mastodon, tentatively eight copies in four locations. By association with the pieces recently found in Tultepec, It is estimated that the remains of these animals date from 14,000 years«the archaeologist revealed in 2020. Finding remains of such antiquity is impressive and that is why it was decided to expose them to the world.
A mammoth cemetery
In 2020, The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) reported «a cemetery of Megafauna» During the construction of AIFA. In this area the presence of a large number of bones of at least 70 mammoth specimens on the Santa Lucía site was found, in addition to some human bone remains dating from the year 400 AD
Since the first remains were found A collection and studies work on these bones began and after the rescue work extended in an exploration area of 23 km² between 2019 and 2021, coordinated by INAH and the Ministry of National Defense (Sedena), it was estimated that in total 25,000 bone remains were accumulated, which belong to more than 300 mammoths, humans, and other types of fauna such as camels and horses.