The remains of a giant creature that roamed Earth alongside the first humans have been unearthed in Iowa.
Archaeologists found several bones and massive skull of a 13,600-year-old mastodon buried deep in the mud of a creek bank, marking the state’s first well-preserved specimen.
Mastodons are the distant cousin of modern-day elephants and extinct mammoths, which lived only in North America between 3.5 million to 10,500 years ago.
The team is now searching for signs the deceased animal interreacted with humans, specifically for unique cut marks on its bones that signal it was killed for food.
Archaeologists in Iowa have unearthed remains of a mastodon that lived in the area more than 13,000 years ago
‘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,’ John Doershuk, director and state archaeologist at the University of Iowa, said.
‘There’s also potential evidence on the bones themselves — there could be identifiable cut marks.’
The discovery was made by a local resident of Wayne County, who spotted a femur sticking out from the mud in 2022.
The find led to archaeologists combing the region, uncovering the mastodon’s massive skull and other bones.
Using radiocarbon dating, the skull was determined to be 13,600 years old.
The team also found human-made artifacts, such as stone tools, which dated a few thousand years after the mastodon skull.
But the tools revealed human existence in the creek drainage, which had never been recorded until now.
The remains are the first well-reserved to ever be found in Iowa. The team also used radiocarbon dating to determine it is about 13,600 years old
Archaeologists plan to search for specific markings on the bones that suggest the animal interacted with humans
Mastodons were similar in size to modern-day elephants, with a height of seven feet for females and 10 feet for males.
The tusks were less curved than those of mammoths but larger and longer than elephant tusks.
The team also discovered several human-made artifacts, such as stone tools that dated a few thousands years after the mastodon skull.
However, the most distinctive feature differentiating mastodons from mammoths is their cheek teeth.
Unlike modern elephants and extinct mammoths, the mastodon had molars that featured distinctive, cone-like cusps.
Mammoths had flat, ridged molars that look like washboards, totally different in appearance from mastodon teeth.
The mastodon still had a tusk attached to its skull, but the team found the other not too far from the remains
Mastodons are the distant cousin of modern-day elephants and extinct mammoths , which lived only in North America between 3.5 million to 10,500 years ago
The Iowa discover comes just days after remains of a mammoth was found in Mississippi.
Mammoths were much larger than mastodons, standing up to 13 feet tall and weighing nearly 10 tons.
Fossil hunter Eddie Templeton was out exploring when he came across a remarkable find in a steep embankment, which appeared to be part of an ice-age elephant tusk on August 9.
The fossil was intact, making it an ‘extremely rare find for Mississippi,’ but the find set off a race to protect the artifact because the state’s sun can dry out it out and destroy it.
