It turns out that humans in prehistoric times hunted more than just your classic woolly mammoth.
Archaeologists on a dig in Mexico have unearthed the gomphothere, an extinct elephant relative that sported four sharp tusks and was smaller in size than a mammoth or mastodon, Live Science reported.
The creature's bones were found mixed with 13,400-year-old weapons from a prehistoric group of paleo-Indians called the Clovis culture.
"The Clovis stereotypically went out and hunted mammoth, and now there's another elephant on the menu," said co-author Vance Holliday, as quoted by Live Science.
Publishing their findings in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers have identified the elephant-like bones as the youngest gomphotheres yet found in North America. Prior to the find, scientists thought that the creatures became extinct before the period when humans are believed to have entered the continent.
Using radiocarbon dating to estimate the age of the site, researchers determined that it was 13,390 years old, an age that indicates that Clovis people may have hunted large mammals in the area for several centuries.
"These hunters were around for a long time, at least 500 years," Holliday said. "It seems they were coming and going as they pleased, going from water source to water source and learning the land."
The Clovis people were likely the first culture in North America, introducing innovative technology in the form of stone blades that replaced bone and antler tools.
"There are really no other artifacts like it on any other continents," Holliday said. "This amazing technology just spread."
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