The 1.1 meter-long thigh bone was found by a fisherman by the River Raba near the village of Książnice in May.
The man notified the local authorities of his find, who then reported it to the Institute of Paleobiology at the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN).
Detailed examinations confirmed that the bone belonged to an adult mammoth and is at least 13,000 years old.
According to Piotr Wojtal from the Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals at PAN, it belonged to a “fully grown” animal but “it is impossible to determine the cause of death for this animal.”
Mammoths in Poland
Various mammoth remains have been found in Poland, especially in the south, over the past few decades.
Another thigh bone, likely discovered in the Middle Ages and once thought to belong to the legendary Wawel Dragon, can be seen on the doors of Wawel Cathedral in Kraków.
A complete mammoth skeleton can be found at the Geological Museum in Warsaw.
