Rome: Researchers in Italy have unearthed and partially reconstructed the skeleton of a million-year-old mammoth, as well as remains from a giant deer and a tortoise.
The rare remains were uncovered at Ellera di Corciano, near the central city of Perugia.
Researchers had discovered in the same area in 2011 the skeletons of 200 mammals that roamed the earth around a million years ago, including hippopotamuses, deer, bison, horses and cheetas.
Italian paleontologist Marco Cherin from the University of Perugia's Department of Earth Sciences has been leading a team of geology and natural science students at the dig.
Geological and micro-paleontological analysis of soil strata from the site show it was once a fertile alluvial plain inhabited by a diverse range of large mammals.
