A family group of mammoth skeletons discovered in western Siberia is to cross the block at Summers Place later this year, the Brighton Argus reports.

They will be sold as a single lot, with an estimate of £250,000-400,000 ($316,600-506,560).

The mammoth went extinct just under 4,000 years ago

Auctioneer Rupert van der Werff told the Argus: “It is very rare to find skeletons of a family group like this.

“I think it is only one of two groups in the world to have been found…”

The skeletons are around 16,000 years old, which would place them firmly in the Mesolithic era.

Humans are known to have lived in the region at the time and would have hunted mammoth. It’s unclear how this particular group met its end.  

Van der Werff explained to the newspaper: “It may not sound like it but in terms of what I deal with, that is relatively recent.

“That is probably one of the reasons why the skeletons were in good condition.

“We intend to for them to go as a group which will have a great appeal.”

Summers Place sold a single mammoth skeleton for £189,000 ($239,370) in 2014, although that specimen was significantly larger and older than the examples offered in this lot.

The auction will take place in Billingshurst, Sussex on November 22.

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