The remains of a woolly mammoth that died 10,000 years ago have been unearthed in Siberia by oil workers . Two tusks , teeth and rib bones of the extinct giant mammal were discovered buried three metres down in the frozen soil around 31 miles ( 50km ) from Nyagan in Khanty-Mansi , Russia . Oil workers had been digging at a site owned by Rosneft close to the town when they noticed a tusk sticking out of the excavator bucket . Ancient : Two mammoth tusks ( shown above ) together with fragments of jaw , teeth , tibia and ribs were dug from the frozen soil of Siberia . Oil workers noticed a tusk sticking out of the excavator bucket . Using shovels they then unearthed a second tust , a tibia , ribs , teeth and fragments of the animal 's jaw . Aton Rezvy , head of palaeontology at the Khanty-Mansiysk Museum of Nature and Man , said he believes the mammoth is at least 10,000 years old . Since the 1700s scientists have debated what caused the demise of mammoths . All but a few isolated island populations disappeared between 20,000 and 10,000 years ago . One popular theory , bolstered by this study , is that Ice Age people hunted most of the mammoths out of existence . However , some experts argue that global warming helped make the giant creatures extinct between 20,000 and 25,000 years ago . Other researchers argue that an impact of extraterritorial objects in North America 13,000 years ago , led to rapid climate change , eventually wiping out the mammoths . Today , it 's thought that a combination of factors led to extinction . He estimated that the giant animal had been a fully grown adult female , around 30 to 40 years old when she died . He said they hoped to conduct further analysis of the bones to learn more about the mammoth . He told the Siberian Times : 'We can send the find to determine the radiocarbon date . 'Genetic analysis will help to determine which population this mammoth was from - European or North American . ' Recent research has shown that many woolly mammoths discovered in Siberia may have originated in North Ameria and migrated across the Bering Strait when sea levels were lower . Many believe the original Siberian population of mammoths disappeared around 40,000 years ago , with North American mammoths dominating until around 4,500 years ago . The exact reason for their extinction is still debated with many blaming changes to the climate as causing their demise . Others have pointed to evidence that humans and neanderthals hunted the giant creatures along with other ice age megafauna and may have pushed them to the brink of extinction . Palaeontologists who examined the mammoth 's remains ( shown above ) estimate it died 10,000 years ago . Oil workers had been excavating a site 31 miles from Nyagan in Russia ( above ) when they found the mammoth . They estimate that the giant had been a fully grown female , around 30 to 40 years old . A recent study has suggested that human hunting caused a massive drop in mammoth populations in western Europe around 30,000 years ago . Just a few isolated populations of mammoth are though to have clung on . Dozens of mammoth remains have been unearthed in Siberia , including entire skeletons and even mummified bodies still preserved in the ice . The mammoth 's remains were unearthed about 30 miles from the town of Nyagan in Khanty-Mansi , Russia . Vladimir Bednyakov ( pictured above ) had been operating the digger when he unearthed the mammoth tusks . Vladimir Bednyakov was operating the excavator when he discovered the latest mammoth . He said : ' I noticed something in the excavator bucket . It turned to be a mammoth tusk . 'We have the rule - if we find something , we stop the work and call the bosses . 'But I was also interested myself , in what this was . ' I took the shovel and began to dig ... . found more remains , the second tusk , teeth and other bones . ' Woolly mammoths , like the one shown in the artists impression above , lived from about 200,000 years ago until around 4,500 years ago when the last isolated populations are thought to have died out completely .
The remains of the woolly mammoth were found close to Nyagan in Russia . Oil workers for Rosneft noticed a tusk sticking out of the excavator bucket . Palaeontologists estimate the mammoth had been a around 4,500 years ago female . They hope to carry out tests to find out whether it had migrated from North America or was part of the native Siberian population of woolly mammoths .