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Woolly Mammoths Were Still Alive When the Pyramids Were Being Built

Curated by Surfaced EditorialΒ·Regularly updated

A woolly mammoth standing on a frozen Arctic island with the Egyptian pyramids visible on the distant horizon across the sea

A small population of woolly mammoths survived on Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean until approximately 1650 BCE. The Great Pyramid of Giza was completed around 2560 BCE, meaning mammoths and pyramids coexisted for nearly a thousand years.

Why It’s Interesting

We imagine mammoths as Ice Age creatures that vanished before civilization began, but an isolated herd outlived the founding of most ancient civilizations. It reframes extinction as a gradual, uneven process rather than a clean historical break.

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