Archaeologists in Iowa have discovered the state’s first well-preserved mastodon. Radiocarbon dating suggests the prehistoric animal roamed the Midwest about 13,600 years ago. In a Facebook post, the University of Iowa’s Office of the State Archaeologist shared images of the mostly intact skull and a number of other bones from a 12-day excavation of an eroding creek bank in Wayne County.

The discovery will help archaeologists solve the mystery of how people interacted with woolly mammoths in ancient Iowa. Researchers will look for evidence of cut marks along the bones or nearby butchery tools used to dismember the mastodon for consumption.

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Mastodons lived from 3.5 million to just 10,500 years ago. They are closely related to modern-day elephants and once roamed all over North and Central America and even Alaska. A few years ago, scientists reconstructed the life of a single mammoth and found that in its lifetime it traveled an incredible 43,000 miles across Alaska – almost twice the circumference of the Earth – before probably starving to death during a harsh winter or spring.

Recently, a bipartisan bill was passed in the U.S. Senate declaring the mastodon the national fossil of the United States. This offers you the opportunity to insert the name of an older celebrity/public figure to complete your own very funny joke. Maybe something like, “But I thought our national fossil was Joe Biden!” Feel free to use this at work if you want to get some eye-rolls today.