13,600-Year-Old Mastodon Skull Discovered in Iowa Creek Bed

Archaeologists in Iowa have uncovered the state’s first well-preserved mastodon. The ancient beast is believed to have roamed the American Midwest around 13,600 years ago, according to radiocarbon dating. In a Facebook post, the University of Iowa’s Office of the State Archaeologist shared images of the mostly intact skull and a bunch of other bones from a 12-day excavation of an eroding creek bank in Wayne County.

The discovery will help archaeologists piece together the mystery of how humans of ancient Iowa interacted with woolly mammoths. Researchers will be looking for evidence of cut marks along the bones or nearby butchering tools that were used to chop up the mastodon for consumption.

Mastodons lived between 3.5 million and only about 10,500 years ago. They are closely related to modern elephants and, at one point, roamed all over North and Central America and even up to Alaska. A few years ago, scientists reconstructing the life of a single mammoth found it traveled an astonishing 43,000 miles across Alaska in its lifetime—nearly twice the circumference of Earth—before likely starving to death during a harsh winter or spring.

Recently, bipartisan legislation was passed in the US Senate to designate the mastodon as the national fossil of the United States. This offers you the chance to insert the name of an elderly 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 that at work if you want to make eyes roll today.