A discovery of a three-million-year-old elephant skull was made when Antonia Gradillas and his friends went to New Mexico to celebrate a friend's upcoming wedding. The group was surprised after they saw a tusk sticking out from the ground in Elephant Butte Lake State Park 150 miles from the city of Albuquerque.

Gradillas, 33, told ABC news that as they were walking, a bone sticking out about one or two inches from the ground attracted their attention. Without wasting any more time, he and his friends began to dig and uncover another tusk. After this, a row of teeth and a massive cranium was unearthed by them.

Gradillas thought that the skull might have come from a woolly mammoth. To be sure, Gradillas decided to seek advice from a friend who worked in a museum. Gary Morgan, a paleontologist with the nearby New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, immediately appeared at the scene after the group invited him to analyze the skull.

Morgan confirmed that the skull belonged to a stegomastadon. The animal is known as a prehistoric ancestor of the modern elephant that existed before the woolly mammoth. According to scientists, stegomastadon has lived and roamed in the area some three million years ago.

"This is far and away the best one we've ever found. This may be one of the most complete stegomastodon skulls ever found - anywhere", said Morgan.

The skull will soon be sent to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. The weight of the skull is more than 1,000 pounds.