Researchers in southwestern Turkey discovered fossils belonging to eight different animal species, including mammoths, giraffes and rhinoceroses.
The discovery came during the survey research of a group of scientists from Turkey and a Paris museum, in Denizli, Aegean Turkey.
The scientists estimated that the animals lived at least 1.2 million years ago, but may even go back to 9 million years.
They said the fossils belonged to three different Cavicornias and a giraffe from the Miocene period, namely 7-9 million years ago, as well as mammoth, rhinoceros, horse and deer fossils from the Pleistocene period of 1.2 million years ago.
Ahmet Ihsan Aytek, an anthropology professor at Pamukkale University in Denizli, said that the discovery of fossils of animals such as the mammoth and rhinoceros proves that Anatolia was once very rich in animal species.
Aytek also added that there is not such a well-preserved fossil of a mammoth jaw even in Europe, describing it as a "significant discovery."
It is of particular importance that the animals lived at the same time with the ancient people in Anatolia, he stressed.
