Iowa’s first-ever preserved mastodon skull was discovered by archaeologists, who are hoping it could bring light on how humans interacted with the prehistoric beast.
After a two-week extraction process, the remains were unearthed from the bank of a creek in Wayne, Iowa. In 2022, the bank’s erosion problem was reported to the Office of the State Archaeologist (OSA).
Based on radiocarbon dating, the mastodon is close to 14 thousand years old, which is around the same time as people first settled in the area.
This news comes two years after an enormous bone emerged from a creek in Wayne County. Archaeologists who inspected the bone at the time determined it to be a mastodon femur. They dug deeper into the site in pursuit of additional information about the creature.
Now, researchers have found what seems to be a massive skull at the site, along with a tusk and other bones that most likely belonged to the same animal. Scientists have yet to learn if it died due to human intervention. OSA will inspect the bones thoroughly to look for signs of wounding.
The statement indicates that the researchers found stone tools and other human-made objects at the location, but they did note that the tools were several thousand years younger than the mastodon.
The mastodon’s bones will be included in an upcoming exhibit at the Prairie Trails Museum upon completion of conservation and investigation at the University of Iowa.
In the span of 3.5 million to 10,500 years ago, the enormous elephantine mammals moved through North America.
Fossils of Mastodon Americanum (American mastodon) were first discovered in Claverack, New York, in 1705, beginning a lengthy and convoluted paleontological history. It was in 1808 that President Thomas Jefferson had the mastodon skeletons transported to the White House from the Big Bone Lick location, which is located close to the Ohio River. In what is now known as the East Room, Jefferson laid out the fossils for study because he was captivated by them. The Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences acquired several of these mastodon bones throughout that time.
