Steppe mammoth tooth (OUMNH PAL-Q.11360)

3D Model

Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, England; ~200,000 years old.

The steppe mammoth (Mammuthus trogontherii) is an earlier relative of the iconic woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius). This earlier species was a common sight across Europe for over half a million years, from about 800,000 years ago. 922 fossils of steppe mammoth were excavated at Stanton Harcourt in Oxfordshire, making it one of the richest mammoth sites known in Europe! This right upper third molar tooth is one of them. The tooth wear tells us that the mammoth this molar belonged to was at least 50 years old! The steppe mammoths from Stanton Harcourt were among the last of their species known in Europe. They were also curiously small (up to 45% smaller than their ancestors), which some people have linked to climate and environmental change or to competition for food from other big herbivores around at the same time.

Specimen: OUMNH PAL-Q.11360 Collections Online: https://oumnh.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/oum-catalogue-69658