Alaska Fossil Mix-Up: Whale Bones Misidentified as Mammoths for 70 Years
Fossils housed for decades at the University of Alaska Museum of the North were long labeled as woolly mammoths, but new radiocarbon dating and isotope analyses show they are two whales (likely a Northern Pacific right whale and a common minke whale) dating to about 2,000–3,000 years ago, far younger than mammoths. Mitochondrial DNA confirmed whale identity. How they ended up inland remains unclear, with hypotheses including inland whale incursions, transport by ancient humans, or a museum mix-up; the study concludes the specimens are not mammoths.
