Mammoths, not Beavers: Ancient bones found on Oregon State stadium site

The Oregon State University athletic department is in the midst of renovation project for the north end zone of its football stadium. Now it is becoming a project for the school's department of anthropology.

According to the Gazette-Times of Corvallis, construction workers on Tuesday unearthed what is believed to be a femur of a mammoth as well as bones believed to be from other large mammals.

Steve Clark, a spokesman for the school, said a professor estimated the bones to be at least 10,000 years old. The low-lying site not far from the Willamette River once was a marsh, and years before that was the substrate of Lake Allison, a body of water that stretched from Portland to Eugene during the ice age Missoula Floods.

No human remains have been found at the site, but it has been closed to the public since the discovery of the bones.

The bones were found at the future location of the Beavers' football locker room, which is part of a $42 million project that has its first stage slated for completion in August.