translated from Spanish: so you can see the remains found in St. Lucia

The remains of a hundred mammoths and other prehistoric animals between 10 thousand and 25 thousand years old have been exposed during the construction of Mexico City’s new airport.
The first discoveries were recorded in October 2019 at the military airbase of St. Lucia, in Zumpango (periphery of the capital), where the government builds the air terminal.
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“In October we started the work we made the first findings during the supervision of the excavation areas that correspond to the fuel terminal,” Captain Jesús Cantoral, head of the archaeological and paleontological rescue table of the work, told the AFP.
Cantoral evokes that moment in front of one of the perforations where two specimens of mammoth were found, one of them almost complete because it only lacks the defense (fang).
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A dozen workers and specialists dig to extract the bones of one of them, taking care that the mound of soil holding the other does not fall apart.
In parallel with this work, the works of the airport, an emblematic project of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, move against the time as the leftist representative promised that the terminal will be inaugurated in March 2022.
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Oblivious to the finds, which are scattered throughout the construction, thousands of workers continue their march, as do dozens of excavators and trucks who keep removing land and transporting materials.
The authorities say they have maintained strict vigilance to ensure that the remains are preserved.
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“There has been constant monitoring and to this day we have 194 points of finds, more than 100 individuals have recovered from mammoths, camel, horse, bison, fish, birds, antelopes, rodents,” Cantoral says. Most are between 25 thousand and 10 thousand years old.
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Prehistoric lake
Researchers believe that the high number of remains found is due to the area corresponding to Lake Xaltocan, where there was plenty of water and food for the animals.
“There were a lot of natural resources, sufficient for a long time, many generations,” explains archaeologist Araceli Yáñez, in charge of the area where the two mammoth specimens are.
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The specialist adds that in winter the terrain became muddy, causing immense animals like these mammals to get stuck and die from starvation.
This is not the only mammoth find in the area.
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In the nearby municipality of Tultepec there is a museum dedicated to the remains of these giants discovered in the area; last November the skeletons of 14 mammoths were also found.
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The government began construction of the new airport at the Santa Lucia military base in 2019, after cancelling the works of another terminal that was erected in Texcoco – driven by President Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018) – alleging corruption and waste of resources.
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The administration of López Obrador commissioned the Mexican army to build the work, which will now also include a museum dedicated to the remains of mammoths and other animals found there.
“The construction of a museum dedicated to paleontological finds in St. Lucia is planned, which will be located inside these facilities,” says Captain Cantoral.
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Original source in Spanish