Discovered in the southern part of the state, it is Iowa’s first well-preserved mastodon.
Watch: Ancient mastodon skull dug out of ground in Iowa
Researchers at the University of Iowa have found a mastodon skull estimated to be over 13,000 years old.
Archaeologists in Iowa believe they have unearthed an ancient mastodon skull dating back to the time when humans first populated the earth.
The find was made in the southern part of the state and is the first well-preserved mastodon in Iowa, according to the University of Iowa’s Office of the State Archaeologist. Scientists and members of the local community recently conducted a 12-day excavation at the site, during which “several mastodon bones,” primarily from the skull, were found.
Using radiocarbon dating, the research team was able to estimate the specimen’s age at about 13,600 years, meaning the mastodon must have lived around the time when the first humans lived and hunted in the area, according to the university.
Next, researchers will examine the bones and look for evidence that humans encountered this particular mastodon.
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Mastodon skull estimated to be 13,600 years old
Mastodons, large mammals similar to elephants and mammoths, roamed North America from about 3.5 million years ago to 10,500 years ago.
A Wayne County resident contacted John Doershuk, Iowa’s state archaeologist, in 2022 after stumbling upon an unusually long bone embedded in a creek bed on private property.
The bone turned out to be the femur of a mastodon, which prompted archaeologists to investigate the site more closely last fall. They also discovered a broken tusk protruding from the stream bed, presumably still attached to the mastodon’s skull.
After securing funding for another excavation, the team returned this month “to carefully excavate the skull and several other mastodon bones, all likely from the same animal,” a University of Iowa press release said.
Scientists search for evidence of interaction between humans and mastodon
During the twelve-day excavations, the archaeologists also uncovered several man-made artifacts, such as stone tools.
The tools were dated to several thousand years after the mastodon skull, but the team was still encouraged to find the first-ever evidence of “human existence in the stream’s catchment.”
Now the scientists hope that further archaeological finds and documentation of the orientation and location of the bones could lead to evidence of “human interaction” with the specimen, as well as insights into “how and why the creature ended up in the stream bed.”
“We really hope to find evidence of human interaction with this creature – perhaps the projectile points and knives used to kill and dismember the animal,” Doershuk said in a statement. “There is also potential evidence on the bones themselves – there may be recognizable cut marks.”
Other similar fossil finds
The discovery is the latest in a series of prehistoric finds in the United States.
Earlier this month, a man in Mississippi found a mammoth tusk, a rarity in the state. And in May, a Florida man discovered a 4-foot-long mastodon tusk on the ocean floor while searching for fossils near the Venice coast.
In May 2023, miners in North Dakota near Beulah, about 80 miles northwest of Bismarck, unearthed a 7-foot-long mammoth tusk that had been buried for thousands of years. After a 12-day excavation, scientists recovered more than 20 bones from the skeleton, considered one of the most complete mammoth skeletons ever discovered in the state.
How to see the Iowa Mastodon bones
The mastodon bones are set to become part of a new exhibit at the Prairie Trails Museum in Corydon once scientists at the University of Iowa have analyzed and preserved the skull and other recovered bones.
