Fossil of the lower mandible from the jaw of a mammoth (Mammuthus sp.), showing the nature of the chewing surface on the molar teeth. Mammoths were large mammals, weighing on average around 6 to 8 tons, which were found across North America, Europe and Asia from the Pliocene Epoch (around 4.8 million years ago) into the Pleistocene epoch (around 4500 years ago). The majority of mammoths died out around 10 000 BCE. This specimen has been found a sand pit in the south of the Netherlands.