Mexico City - Mammoth bones have been discovered near Mexico City, in what archaeologists describe as the country's find of the decade. The fossilized bones were found while drains were being installed in a street in the town of Tultepec, directly north of the country's capital, making it part of the greater Mexico City metropolitan area.

Mexico City and its surrounding areas are rich in fossilized mammoth bones, according to INAH. So far, over fifty mammoths have been discovered in the area.

This latest find occurred two meters below the ground while workmen were installing drains in Calle Saucera. The bones are of a Columbian Mammoth (Mammuthus columbi), a species that inhabited North America, from what is today Costa Rica in Central America to the northern USA, during the Pleistocene epoch (2,588,000 to 11,700 years ago).

The remains are thought to be approximately 14,000 years old, according to Luis Córdova Barradas, an archaeologist at El Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH).

Experts estimated that the mammoth died when it was between 20 and 25 years old, weighed about 10 tonnes (11.02 tons) and measured 16 feet tall. The bones have been surprisingly well preserved – the animal's tusks, which spanned over 10 feet, are still attached to its skull, which measured 1 meter in width.

The mammoth bones were found scattered across the area. The other bones were unearthed in what used to be a shallow lake where heavy ancient mammoths got trapped. The position of the remains suggested that the mammoth died after being trapped, and was later cut up for pelt and meat.

According to Tultepec Town Council, Dr. Córdova Barradas and fellow archaeologist Felipe Muñoz are carefully unearthing and piecing together the fossilized bones, with the ultimate aim of assembling a whole mammoth skeleton.

Córdova Barradas says they are currently getting the necessary paperwork ready, and will then ask INAH to house the mammoth bones. Mexican law states that any archaeological find automatically becomes the property of the Patrimonio Nacional (National Heritage – Mexico's National Trust).