Discovering the Mammoth: A Tale of Giants, Unicorns, Ivory, and the Birth of a New Science

The last mammoths died in 1650 BCE, which is over 1000 years after the pyramids at Giza were built. But these wooly and wild behemoths captured the human imagination ever since, both with their memory and their remains. Various cultures interpreted their bones differently. The ancient Greeks saw them as the remains of titans. The ancient Chinese interpreted them as dragon teeth. Eventually, by the 17th century, the scientific method emerged along with a knowledge of fossils. It took a colorful cast of characters to reassess these remains and assemble the idea of forgotten, fuzzy tundra pachyderms, including Benjamin Franklin, Peter the Great, and a pirate. Their innovations, oh by the way, happened to invent paleontology. 

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