One normally associates El Salto with a profusion of manufacturing plants (it’s home to Honda, Hershey and IBM among other transnationals) or the fact that the Santiago River, one of Mexico’s most turgid waterways, runs though it.

El Salto is proud of its new “prehistoric” logo.

Archaeologists made a bee line for El Salto after the fossilized remains of a 60,000 year-old mammoth were discovered in a bog more than three years ago.  Excavations finished last year and the reconstructed bones of the mammal will soon go on display at El Salto’s new cultural center. 

In fact, so thrilled are El Salto officials with the discovery that the mammoth has become the city’s official mascot and logo. Go to the El Salto web site and you will find a cute drawing of a mammoth at the top of the page, above the catchphrase, “El Salto – Territorio Mamut.”

“We want El Salto to be known as a cultural and artistic place, not just for industry,” says city press spokesperson Javier Lopez. 

Other fossils from the “prehistoric graveyard” in the municipality will also be displayed in the cultural center, which may be open as early as October.