> A fourth century mammoth? Surely an elephant-like
> jaw from 4th century
> deposits is more likely to be... an elephant?!
>
> I thought the latest surviving mammoths were the
> dwarfs known from islands
> in the Arctic circle, dating to between 3000 and
> 4000 years ago. So 'fourth
> millenium BC' might be possible (but not, seemingly,
> in Yemen).
An Asian elephant jaw maybe? Would parallel the
ostrich's range reduction (but predate it due to
larger territory/MVP size, obviously) due to
aridification of the inner Arabian Peninsula. In
250BC, the Asian elephant had an isolated relict
population in Syria (Hannibal's lead elephant - and
apparently only that one - was named "The Syrian").