Archaeologists stunned by 40,000-year-old mammoth remains in previously undiscovered Devon cave

• Video report by Richard Lawrence

Archaeologists have been stunned by the unearthing of a 40,000 year-old mammoth tusk and parts of its skeleton in a previously undiscovered cave in Devon.

The remains were found along with the jaw of a woolly rhino and the bones of a wolf in the cave near Sherford.

Lead Archeologist of the project, Rob Bourn, described it as a "spectacular find."

"It's a challenging process to excavate, but the results are going to be quite spectacular", he said.

The tusk of the mammoth has been carefully extracted along with other bones from its skull, skeleton and parts from the woolly rhino.

Mr Bourn continued: "Some of the animals may have fallen down a hole and died in the hole or what's more likely, because we don't have the full skeleton, is that they died somewhere nearby and were washed in.

"But we do have the full skeleton of the wolf which probably went in alive looking for its supper and wasn't able to get back out again."

These latest finds from the ice age will now be subject to many months of research. They have been described as having "international and national interest."

Curator of Archaeology, Fiona Pitt, said: "They are absolutely amazing pieces. Particularly I was blown away by the mammoth tooth. It's absolutely incredible.

"It's quite a big collection of material and there's a hug amount of analysis to do on it."

The cave will be sealed off and preserved and all of the remains which have been recovered will eventually go on display at the city's museum.