The accidental death of an elephant which had become bogged in mud 200,000 years ago led to the perfect preservation of its skeleton - and a remarkable scientific discovery.

Scientists in Indonesia have unearthed the skeleton of the prehistoric ancestor to the modern Asian elephant which was fossilised in an abandoned sand quarry in East Java, Indonesia.

The ancient bones were discovered after land collapsed at the sand quarry on the Indonesian island, adjacent to the Solo River, which killed two men in April.

Researchers from the University of Wollongong in Australia and the Geological Survey Institute spent four weeks excavating the bones of the elephant, which is now extinct.

“This is a very significant find for this region,” University of Wollongong palaeontologist Gert van den Bergh told The Times.

“It is very rare to find a complete individual skeleton like this.”

Dr van den Bergh, who worked with the research team alongside Mike Morwood – the Australian archaeologist who discovered the pygmy skeleton known as the Hobbit in an Indonesian cave in 2003 - said they believe the elephant had become stuck in the sand and was quickly covered and buried by the rising water levels, therefore preserving the skeleton.

“Normally, such dead animals would have been ripped apart and eaten by carnivores, crocodiles or other predators,” Dr van den Bergh said. “But it appears that the elephant became bogged in the river shallows, perished and was quickly covered by sands about 200,000 years ago.”

Despite its age the skeleton is almost completely intact. Dr van den Bergh said scientists will now analyse its skull to test exactly how big it would have been, but they believe it was larger than the modern Asian elephant.

The Asian elephant, which is usually slightly smaller than its African relatives, is considered endangered.

The femur of the prehistoric skeleton measures 1.2m (4ft), while the shoulder height is estimated to measure approximately 3.2m (10.5 ft) - a little larger than modern Asian elephants.

The skeleton is currently encased in plaster and experts are preparing to clean it for further analysis at the Geology Museum in Bandung, West Java.

“The fact that it is all in one piece allows us to reconstruct the entire animal without having to use our imagination,” said Dr van den Bergh.

There are plans for the skeleton to go on public display in Indonesia later in the year.

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