(CNN) -- Seattle paleontologists Friday safely removed the largest fossilized mammoth tusk discovered in the region from a construction site, according to the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.

The fossil is probably a tusk from a Columbian mammoth, or Mammuthus columbi, which was designated the Washington state fossil in 1998, according to a statement on the museum website.

The tusk, 8 feet 6 inches long, appears to be the most intact and largest discovered in Seattle.

The fossil was found Tuesday about 7 feet below an AMLI Residential Partners apartment development site, the statement said.

Burke paleontologists estimate that the tusk is at least 16,000 years old, but could be up to 60,000 years old. Carbon dating would provide a definitive age.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/14/us/seattle-mammoth-tusk/