Iowa researchers say they’ve excavated the state’s first well-preserved mastodon, a roughly 13,600-year-old specimen that was found in the southern part of the state.
The University of Iowa’s Office of the State Archaeologist said in a Facebook post that the 12-day excavation involving staff and local community members yielded “several mastodon bones,” primarily from the skull.
Radiocarbon dating indicates that this mastodon is roughly 13,600 years old, archaeologists say, and researchers will now scrutinize the bones to look for “any evidence of human activity, such as cut marks.”
“We’re really hoping to find evidence of human interaction with this creature — perhaps the projectile points and knives that were used to kill the animal and do initial butchering,” said John Doershuk, the director and state archaeologist at the Office of the State Archaeologist, in a statement. “There’s also potential evidence on the bones themselves — there could be identifiable cut marks.”
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