Put This in the Category of “Differing Site Condition”

You can never be 100% sure of what you will find below the surface when you begin excavating on a construction project. But I’m willing to bet construction workers in Seattle, Washington never anticipated finding a very rare 10,000 year old mammoth tusk.

An employee of a plumbing subcontractor uncovered the tusk with a shovel and immediately stopped digging to contact the general contractor. The amateur archeologist’s boss said “it was more exciting than the time they found a jar of money someone had buried in a backyard.”

The careful excavation of the mammoth tusk will no doubt delay construction of the residential building being developed by AMLI Residential. Nevertheless, AMLI Residential Senior Vice President, Scott Koppelman, said “the scientific and educational benefits of this discovery clearly outweigh the costs and delay. This is an exciting discovery for our local Northwest history.”

Find the whole story, with photos, here.