Mammoth find in little Herne Bay

A pair of woolly mammoth tusks have been discovered off the shores of Herne Bay. Lobster fisherman Barry Mount was trawling the coast last Thursday when he found the prehistoric fossils.

He said he spotted the rare artefacts after "a negative tidal surge" exposed a lesser-seen part of the beach. Mr Mount said:

"In my lifetime, the tide has only gone out that far about three times. It exposed grounds that hadn’t been exposed for a few years, which is when I saw the tusks."

The fossils, which were passed to Canterbury City Council, are currently being kept in tanks of water to prevent them from drying out. Council spokesman Rob Davies said:

"Two tusks were found offshore in Herne Bay last Thursday on an exceptionally low tide. Formal identification of them has yet to take place and no decision has been taken yet about what happens next.

One option could be to display them at Herne Bay Museum, but we need to establish how we would do that and the costs involved of conservation. It has not been long since their discovery and we will be in a position to provide more information in the weeks to come."

thisiskent 20th Feb 201