Young Butchered Mammoth Discovered In Siberia

Velcroman1 writes "A juvenile mammoth, nicknamed 'Yuka,' was found entombed in Siberian ice near the shores of the Arctic Ocean and shows signs of being cut open by ancient people. The remarkably well preserved frozen carcass was discovered in Siberia as part of a BBC/Discovery Channel-funded expedition and is believed to be at least 10,000 years old, if not older. If further study confirms the preliminary findings, it would be the first mammoth carcass revealing signs of human interaction in the region. The carcass is in such good shape that much of its flesh is still intact, retaining its pink color. The blonde-red hue of Yuka's woolly coat also remains."

Comments

Buffet?

[p0p0]

So which researcher gets the first taste?

Re:Buffet?

[Ihmhi]

For those not in the know, this already happened many, many years ago:

One of the best-documented accounts of a prehistoric meal comes at the end of Frozen Fauna of the Mammoth Steppe (1990), by Alaska zoology professor Dale Guthrie. After successfully unearthing and preserving "Blue Babe," a 36,000-year-old steppe bison found near Fairbanks in 1979, Guthrie's team celebrates by simmering some leftover flesh from Babe's neck "in a pot of stock and vegetables." The author reports that "the meat was well aged but still a little tough, and it gave the stew a strong Pleistocene aroma." Now, I'm all for scientific esprit de corps, and I'm not by nature an incurious sort, but I'll say right now I don't see the appeal. Let's keep it simple: frozen meat from tundra = specimen; frozen meat from freezer = dinner. Study the mammoths and eat the burgers, and anyone who craves that great prehistoric taste can wash 'em down with Tab.

Re:Buffet?

[buchner.johannes]

For those not in the know, this already happened many, many years ago:

One of the best-documented accounts of a prehistoric meal comes at the end of Frozen Fauna of the Mammoth Steppe (1990), by Alaska zoology professor Dale Guthrie. After successfully unearthing and preserving "Blue Babe," a 36,000-year-old steppe bison found near Fairbanks in 1979, Guthrie's team celebrates by simmering some leftover flesh from Babe's neck "in a pot of stock and vegetables." The author reports that "the meat was well aged but still a little tough, and it gave the stew a strong Pleistocene aroma." Now, I'm all for scientific esprit de corps, and I'm not by nature an incurious sort, but I'll say right now I don't see the appeal. Let's keep it simple: frozen meat from tundra = specimen; frozen meat from freezer = dinner. Study the mammoths and eat the burgers, and anyone who craves that great prehistoric taste can wash 'em down with Tab.

Maybe they left it over 10.000 years ago because it wasn't the best meat?

See also this clip from QI on tortoise extinction by too-hungry explorers.

Re:Buffet?

[Sussurros]

Aleksandr Solzhenitsin wrote about starving prisoners in a Soviet Gulag finding a frozen mammoth in Siberia and eaiting if before the guards could take it away from them. He also mentions them eating fish and salamanders that had been frozen for thousands of years.

Oh the humanity!

[cvtan]

Those ancient people cut up the LAST baby mammoth on Earth. Bastards!

what a waste

[ozduo]

even 10,000 years ago you couldn't get junior to finish his meal when there were starving neanderthals on the next continent

This story gets better with retelling

[IntentionalStance]

The quote from the BBC article says "Even more interesting, there are hints that humans may have taken over the kill at an early stage."

The headline for the BBC article "Woolly mammoth carcass may have been cut into by humans"

The headline of the linked story "YOUNG MAMMOTH LIKELY BUTCHERED BY HUMANS"

I especially like the excited all-caps style

Re:Taste?

[Kjella]

Probably not. The closest living relative would be the elephant, and a quick googling suggests that tastes more like moose/elk or buffalo and not like chicken at all. But even being in the deep freezer I think 10,000 years is a little past the "best before" date...

Re:Taste?

[mcneely.mike]

Did they taste it? Does it taste like chicke?

Nope - elephant

Nope - elephan

FTFY