Fossils believed to be more than 11,000 years old were found by two employees of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, KXAS reported.

>> Read more trending news

Pieces of a mammoth's tooth and a bison thigh bone were found in a creek at the airport, WFAA reported.

"Two employees of the airport's Environmental Affairs Department found the tooth while conducting routine field tests for potential impacts to the environment," an airport spokesman told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in an email.

The fossils were found on Nov. 2 and 3 by Brandon Burks and Roger Duval, WFAA reported.

Burks told the television station that he originally thought the fossils were rocks.

"(They were) completely exposed, you know, it wasn't buried at all, which was interesting," Burks said.

Duval, an amateur fossil hunter, had a stronger reaction.

"He kind of put them together and was like, 'You know what, this could be a mammoth tooth,'" Burks told WFAA. "We kind of freaked out."

The fossils will be moved from the airport to SMU for cataloguing and further study, the television station reported.

About the Author

Keep Reading

Former President Jimmy Carter looks over the site of his boyhood home and farm as a bank of fog lifts at day break near Plains, Ga., on Monday, Oct. 30, 2000. In the background is the family store and a windmill Carter's father erected in 1935 that supplied running water for the family for the first time. (Curtis Compton/AJC)

Credit: AJC staff

Featured

Bumper to bumper traffic travels northbound on the I-85 just past the I-285 overpass, also known as Spaghetti Junction, in Doraville. In late May and June of this year, several drivers have pulled out weapons and fired guns at other motorists on metro Atlanta roadways. (Jason Getz/AJC 2023)

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com