Raising the Mammoth Page #7

a hole in the ice provides drinking

water from the Khatanga River.

As the tunneling continues,

a relic from the past emerges

in the rubble

aquatic plants from the Ice Age.

Look at this one, it's still green.

Ah, yes.

Tipped off by a foul smell under

the block

the men call Dick and Bernard

to check it out.

At one time, Dick thinks this might

have been a pond or a small lake.

...and it smells something

organic, yeah?

When you think that it's minimum

22,222 years old

make things more exciting.

What we know for sure is

that it's below the carcass

of the mammoth.

So it must be...

...older.

...the same age or older.

So at least 22,382 years.

It's possible that the ancient plants

are in such good condition

because they were lodged under

the mammoth

and couldn't rise and decay

in the pond's surface.

It's organic material, look how big

the plant remains are.

And the color even on this one.

This is beautiful, you can see

uh, the cut

on the cut, that there's a hole

inside so.

It's still green.

Yeah.

These plant remains provided a lot of

new information

on the time the mammoth

was living on the mammoth steppe

because I'm convinced of this

that those plant remains are

aquatic plants.

Now we have plant remains from

a pond or a small lake,

which provide new information on

vegetation in the water

during the time of the mammoth.

To fuel its massive body,

an adult woolly mammoth could

spend up to 22 hours a day

foraging for grass and sedges.

But temptation often turned to

tragedy when a pond

so warm and rich with plants

would trap a mammoth in its muddy bed

...and finally, preserve him in

a frozen grave.

It's now some four weeks into the

mammoth expedition.

The Dolgans - Guenady Jarkov

and his family head toward

the dig site.

The Dolgan has promised Bernard

hat he'll return to the camp

when the mammoth is ready to fly.

Time on this vast white plain isn't

measured by the hands of a clock

but in the first snows of autumn

the thawing of the river

and the gathering of the

reindeer herds.

The Dolgans make camp alongside

the expedition site.

They'll stay as long as the

grazing's good.

For now, they'll prepare for autumn

with rituals observed

by Dolgans across the Taimyr.

Packing snow against their

homes seals out the cold.

In a land where wood is more

valuable than ivory

life is Spartan, and surviving

the bitter Siberian winter

is a matter of planning

skill and luck.

Stroganina, frozen fish eaten

with salt

is a staple of Russian diet

and fare for guests.

That Bernard has sought the guidance

of the Jarkov family

in his unprecedented effort to raise

the mammoth

has forged a bond between the

Frenchman and the nomads.

Guenady shares his craft

with Bernard

a harness collar he's worked

out of mammoth ivory.

It's valuable, and will last.

These are things we make according

to our traditional customs.

Mammoth bones and tusks are very old

and they can be passed from one

generation to another.

The tusks that are not smooth break

into pieces after 12 or 15.

But if they're in good condition

they can last for a very long time.

I inherited these from my mother.

They were made 42 years ago,

and they look as if they were

still new.

The ivory from an Ice Age mammoth is

what brought the Dolgan and

the explorer together.

Now it binds them in a journey

back through time.

Shouldering the huge tusks of

the mammoth they found,

the Dolgans move toward the dig site.

Today these tusks will be reunited

with their owner.

With the Jarkovs present,

they'll be reattached to the block

to empower the mammoth

on his flight into the future.

For me, this Jarkov mammoth

is a symbol

and the symbol works with the tusks.

It was a kind of respect for me

to show him in his best light.

Okay...

Gone from the earth for

12,222 years now

the mammoth lives on in the eye

of the hunter.

Pursued for sustenance, revered

and etched in ancient stone...

the giant of the Ice Age helped

our ancestors to survive.

Week four - the site is hit with

the first major storm of the season.

It's hard to hear above the roar

of the winds

and the snow has begun to swirl

in drifts

around the tents at an alarming rate.

But there's no turning back now.

Refusing to fold to the

Arctic's icy hand

Bernard and his team push on.

It's the coldest day yet

on the tundra

but they're too close to their goal

to give up.

Led by Bernard, and anchored by Boris

the men make their way under

the block, inches at a time.

An unlikely group of mammoth hunters

each of the men is now linked

in his own way

to the creature from another age.

Shouting encouragement over

the cacophony of wind

and power tools, they punch their way

through the permafrost.

A month ago, none would have

predicted

that they would press on

in conditions so extreme.

Not even Boris.

It's terrible when you have something

that became concrete

and you want to work more,

and suddenly nature is much more

strong than you.

And this wind start to blow stronger

and stronger and everything was

going in all direction.

It became crazy and very noisy.

Long into the night

the tempest rages on.

But the men have won this round

in the battle against the elements.

Or have they?

It takes a half-day to shovel out

snowdrifts two meters deep.

I became a little bit crazy with

this storm because I decide that

of course, is more strong than me

but I will not give up.

Even if he bring each night

cubic meter

and cubic meter of snow to throw out.

We will not stop all this process.

It was a kind of pleasure to

show to the wind

that we were more determined.

Of course, all of this take

a lot of time

but the time was on my side

because I understand that

all my team

when they saw that I had so much

energy to put in this

will follow me until we make the

complete excavation of the

of the mammoth.

It's time to begin the assembly of

a steel frame

that can hold the massive block,

but it's stop and go with tools that

rebel against the cold.

Once they're sized, the plan is to

run three bars

under the mammoth carcass

and weld them to cross beams.

They'll dig under the block

insert the beams

and chip out the ledge it rests on

once it's ready to fly.

The tunnel under the block has been

coming along slowly

but at last, and just about right

on schedule

Boris powers his way through.

For the first time in 12,222 years

the mammoth will rise free of

its tomb.

But whether it's light enough to be

lifted is another matter.

After all of their efforts

the men are curious.

Expedition coordinator

Christian DeMarliave

conducts an experiment

balancing melted permafrost and water

to calculate the density of the block.

Factoring density and volume should

tell them how much the block weighs.

Boris have some secret question.

He's afraid a little bit that

the block can move or...

This could be a major problem.

Explain to him that this piece of

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