Falconer described M. armeniacus based on molar teeth collected from near Erzurum in eastern Turkey, of uncertain age, while Pohlig described M. trogontherii from fossil remains found in Europe.

[6] The type specimens of the species are molars from the Süssenborn (also spelled Süßenborn) locality in Germany, dating to the early Middle Pleistocene, (Marine Isotope Stage/MIS 16, approximately 676-621,000 years ago).

[9] Analysis of ancient DNA showing deep genetic divergences between early steppe-like mammoths in Siberia, dating around one million years ago, has led to questions about what material should be attributed to the species.

In a 2024 review, Adrian Lister and Love Dalén argued that the species should be retained for now in a broad morphospecies sense for mammoth remains found across Eurasia.

[10] Mammuthus trogontherii was one of the largest mammoth species, with males on average being about 4 m (13.1 ft) tall at the shoulders and about 11 tonnes (24,000 lb) in weight and females on average being about 3.7 m (12.1 ft) tall at the shoulders and about 9.5 tonnes (21,000 lb) in weight, considerably exceeding the size of modern elephants.

[15] Sequenced genomes suggests that Early Pleistocene M. trogontherii specimens from Siberia, around 1 million years old, had already developed many of the genetic changes thought to be responsible for traits that were adaptations for living in cold environments characteristic of woolly mammoths.

[16] Due to the cold climates it inhabited and short tail, Mammuthus trogontherii is suggested to have borne a coat of fur, which was probably somewhat thinner than that of the woolly mammoth.

[25][16] Steppe mammoths replaced European Mammuthus meridionalis between 1–0.7 million years ago, in a complex diachronous mosaic pattern, coincident with the arrival of the temperate-adapted straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) to Europe.

[26] European populations of M. trogontherii experienced progressive size reduction towards the end of the Middle Pleistocene, from around 400,000-300,000 years ago onwards.

Mammoths with M. primigenius type molar morphology displaced those of M. trogontherii type in Europe over the course of the late Middle Pleistocene, which was largely complete by 200,000 years ago (~MIS 7/6 boundary) in a protracted highly complex pattern including some molars with intermediate morphology between the two species that likely reflects gene flow from Siberian woolly mammoths into European M. trogontherii.

[9] At the Bełchatów coal mine in Poland, dating to the late Middle Pleistocene (in the interglacial period of either MIS 11 or MIS 9, around 425-300,000 years ago), remains of M. trogontherii have been found with cut marks, suggested to represent evidence of butchery by archaic humans, possibly Homo heidelbergensis, though no stone tools were found at the site.