A mastodon skeleton, beautifully preserved, has been dug up in Iowa, stunning archaeologists and driving an enormous amount of scientific interest. This has never happened before in the state with remains of such great prehistoric beasts. The find dates back to the fall of 2022 when a resident in Wayne County noticed bone several inches long sticking out from a creek bed and called the Office of State Archaeologist (OSA), University of Iowa.
The bone was looked at by scientists; they confirmed it was a mastodon femur. Deeper into the site, a tusk was found that might still be attached to the skull, indicating that larger parts of the animal may be present. The archaeologists returned to the site in August 2024 for 12 days after raising sufficient funds and were able to extract the rest of the skull and other bones. Not until around 13,600 years ago (and not until the last Ice Age), at which time it went extinct, did mastodons live in North America.
Mastodons were huge creatures that roamed North America from 3.5 million years ago to roughly 10,500 years ago. They resembled modern elephants and mammoths. Mastodons had cusped teeth that were designed to devour woody plants, in contrast to mammoths, which had ridged teeth for eating grasses. Since this discovery pertains to a time when people had already established themselves in the area, it is especially thrilling. Mastodon hunting is thought to have been practiced by early North American settlers, so this discovery may be important for comprehending the relationships between early humans and their prehistoric animal companions.
While some of the human-made artifacts found at the site, including stone tools, are younger than the mastodon remains, further excavations could reveal evidence of hunting or butchering, such as cut marks on bones or weapon fragments. Once fully studied, the OSA plans to exhibit the skeleton at the Prairie Trails Museum in Corydon, offering the public a glimpse into a distant Ice Age world.
