Overview
- A local resident, Petar Nikolov, found large dark bones in the dried Danube near Ryahowo and alerted authorities on Friday, July 31.
- Specialists from the Regional Historical Museum Ruse inspected the site and identified a lower jaw, two tusks and a likely rib that they say are very likely from a woolly mammoth and probably belong to a single young animal.
- Museum crews recovered the exposed material and transported it to the Regional Historical Museum in Ruse where conservators have begun stabilization and scientific study.
- Experts warned that bones that were preserved in water will quickly deteriorate when exposed to air and said a substantial portion of the skeleton may still lie buried under the riverbed, creating urgency to stabilize and prospect for more remains.
- The discovery follows months of record-low Danube flows driven by drought and heatwaves that have disrupted navigation and industry and which have exposed other submerged heritage that would normally remain underwater.