In what local archeologists consider an extraordinary find, an excavation project in Banjirejo, a village in Grobogan regency, Central Java has discovered an ancient dwarf elephant (Stegodon) fossil dating back 700,000 years.

Ancient Human Site Conservation Agency (BPSMP) Sangiran said the find was phenomenal given the fossil of the dwarf elephant was discovered completely intact, including its 4-meter-long ivory tusks.

“This is phenomenal. We consider this to be a fossil of a Stegodon and will conduct further study. The important aspect of the find is that the fossil is intact and the result of an excavation in one site,” BPSMP Sangiran chief Sukronedi said on Wednesday.

The fossil of the ancient species was first found by Rusdi, a 70-year-old farmer, while he was digging a well in his field late last week.

At a depth of 1.5 meters, Rusdi reportedly saw an elephant skull, which was two to three times bigger than the that of a modern elephant. He immediately reported the discovery to village authorities.

Banjarejo Village Chief Ahmad Taufik later reported the discovery to BPSMP Sangiran.

Stegodon lived in what is now Africa and Asia. The oldest known Stegodon fossil, a 6.5 million-year-old partial molar, was found in Kenya.

Stegodon began to roam the island of Java around the early Pleistocene period, which lasted from between 1.8 million to 781,000 years ago.

Other fauna, which lived during this period included the Mastodon, small hippopotami and giant tortoises.

The modern elephant, Elephas maximus, was thought to have arrived on the archipelago around 800,000 years ago, where it has continued to live to this day mostly on the island of Sumatra.

Unlike the mammoth and mastodon, which are well-known ancient animals, there is little known information about the Stegodon.

Debate has raged over the Stegodon’s place of originwhether is Asia or Africa.

There have been a number of Stegodon fossil discoveries in other parts of the archipelago, including one found by Dutch palaeotologist Paul Yves Sondaar.

The dwarf Stegodon, named Stegodon sondaari, lived on the island of Flores about a million years ago and weighed only 15 percent of the weight of its ancestral species Stegodon elephantoides.

The Stegodon of Flores may have witnessed the arrival of early humans on the island, which were likely to have been the ancestors of the Homo floresiensis, also known as the Hobbit man of Flores.

There has also been debate as to whether the Homo floresiensis were responsible for the extinction of megafauna on the island.

Following the discovery of the Stegodon fossil, the BPSMP team said it would continue to conduct monitoring activities for three days and perform early preservation attempts on the fossil, including smearing the fossil with chemical compounds to improve its density.

The team would also protect the excavation site by installing a tarp cover.

Sukronedi said his team would continue its excavation work after the Idul Fitri holiday, as most of the workers were fasting for Ramadhan.

“We can perform excavation at night, but it is too risky for the fossil. The skull could be damaged by hoes or crowbars,” he said.

So far, at least 1,100 fossil pieces of 15 different ancient animals, including elephants, rhinos, crocodiles, buffalos and others, have been found in Banjarejo village.

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