I feel very cultured. tonight I went to the Wayne County Mastodon presentation at Chariton. very interesting.
I never went to college, but I love doing stuff like this. kind of like college lectures, I'd guess. but free. and no test after. I took my notebook.
37 volunteers. 12 days. 11,000 hours. on private property. years ago a guy we know had found a broken tusk and juvenile teeth and some other stuff on property but kept it quiet. currently at University of Pennsylvania. someone else (Jared Crossman) trespassed and found a mastodon femur bone. he sold it to Darrel (Darren? I don't listen the best) Coddington.+ (they're trying to get the new owner to donate it. so far he won't. I think if he bought it.....I mean, they could borrow it for a scan or something.) since he was trespassing, he doesn't get credit for the discovery. he did give the gps coordinates to a man he knew was on the state archeology something or other and he reported it to University of Iowa. another trespasser went to jail for unrelated charge, his wife donated bones HE'D found. the guy we know later handed over his earlier discoveries. in Iowa the land owner owns what is found on his land...even mastodon bones.
in a creek. blue clay. very sticky. state geogogists evaluated the site. in creek with 25' banks. ground penetrating radar. beavers dammed creek. 5' rib sticking out of bank. also found a knee cap. tusk. head. piece of pelvis. vertebra. they covered it up and started on funding and volunteers. another trespasser. owners live out of state but have cameras up. police were called. had to come up with supplies: tents. trailer. shovels. water. coordinate volunteers. water ran constantly. springs over mastodon. 100+ degree days.
mastodon: pointed teeth - eat tree limbs. wooly mammoth: flat teeth. juvenile teeth in same spot. stood 10' to shoulder.
preserve bones with paleo bond. prevents cracking. $100/bottle. expensive. would take 5 gallon bucket to do head. built coffer dam. half moon shaped. sand bags. water pumps. United States Corp of Engineers were in charge of dig. creek had to be restored to original condition when they were done. they also covered area in 16" quarry stone to discourage further digging. U of I says all bones found. site is done.
landowners requested that only Authorized Personnel allowed on dig. everything must be measured and photographed and documented. dig with wood utensils to avoid damage to bones. base camp. drone footage. also looking for stone tools. possible evidence of cutting on ribs. maybe butchered by native peoples? there were people in the area at time. tools must be found in, on, or right next to body to be considered as used on body. especially in a stream, where water can cause movement. have not found any tools yet. but U of I is cleaning and searching skull. lots of mud. screening box, rub dirt through screen mesh.
probe. archeologist. plaster casting. drilled under head, built a frame to support head, crane to lift out head. the site was by southern Iowa. guessing around Lineville? they didn't say. head was transported to Corydon Museum, kept wet. when U of I arrived to pick it up, the city crew loaded it into van.
femur was so big that it almost touched both sides of pickup bed. Mahaska Iowa also has a mastodon. requires special cases with humidifiers to protect bones. bones weren't fossilized or petrified. getting grants for museum exhibit in Corydon. will take a lot of $$$. there was a 6 page article about dig in Iowan Magazine. I stopped at Hy-Vee to pick one up. they were out. DNA could prove sex. archeologist named bones Dolly. expect to recieve bones back October 2026. had to keep quiet. preserve dig integrity. this was the most bones of a single animal found in Iowa. most of bones were missing. no more digging in this location. they dated bones by organic material they were in: carbon dating. (mud and vegetation.)
Amish believe the world started 8500 years ago. another unnamed religion believe 6500 years ago. so they cannot believe in mastodons. some tools were found of the era, but not close enough to mastodon.
"dig deep and donate". wow. bully much.
