Alaska Museum Reclassifies 70-Year-Old 'Mammoth' Bones as Whale Remains After 2,000-Year Dating
Updated
Updated · ScienceAlert · May 26
Alaska Museum Reclassifies 70-Year-Old 'Mammoth' Bones as Whale Remains After 2,000-Year Dating
1 articles · Updated · ScienceAlert · May 26
University of Alaska Museum fossils long labeled as woolly mammoth were re-identified as whale remains after Matthew Wooller's team tested bones collected in interior Alaska in 1951.
Radiocarbon dating put the specimens at roughly 2,000 to 3,000 years old—far too recent for mammoths in Alaska—and isotope signatures showed marine feeding patterns rather than those of grazing land mammals.
The finding resolves any claim that the bones were the youngest mammoth fossils on record, but leaves a new puzzle: how whale remains more than 400 km from the coast ended up deep in interior Alaska.
Researchers said possible explanations include a rare inland whale incursion, transport by ancient humans, or a museum mix-up, and concluded the mystery may never be fully settled.
Did ancient people drag whale bones 250 miles inland, or was it just a museum labeling error?
A mammoth fossil was a whale for 70 years. How did it get 400km from the sea?
Alaska’s Mammoth Mistake: The 70-Year Journey from Misidentified Fossils to Whale Bones
Overview
For over 70 years, two large fossil bones found near Fairbanks in the 1950s were believed to be from woolly mammoths and were kept at the University of Alaska Museum of the North. This identification shaped scientific views about mammoth survival in Alaska. In 2022, the 'Adopt-a-Mammoth' program used radiocarbon dating and discovered the bones were much younger than expected, overturning the long-held belief. This led to further analysis, revealing the bones were actually from whales, not mammoths. The discovery highlights the importance of re-examining old museum collections with modern scientific methods.