Archaeologists have uncovered an ancient treasure in what has been an incredible breakthrough for them.
The artifact that has been unearthed by researchers is estimated to be around 13,600 years old, during the time of early humans.
The relic is a huge skull of a mammoth-like creature which archaeologists believe lived at the same time as early human civilizations.
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The mastodon was a mammal that predated the wooly mammoth, although there was some overlap between the two, and now a well preserved skull of the animal has been excavated in the US.
A team from the University of Iowa reckon that the creature might have been killed and eaten by primitive hunters thousands of years ago.
The skull was discovered after a member of the public contacted the team in 2022 after they found an unusually long bone which was sunken into a creek on private property.
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The mastodon looked similar to mammoths and elephants, and lived across North America from around 3.5 million years ago until roughly 10,500 years ago.
The team of researchers was led by John Doershuk, who is the director and state archaeologist at the University of Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist (OSA), and they arrived at the site to discover that the object was a mastodon femur bone.
In 2023, a broken tusk was also uncovered sticking out of the creek bed, which archaeologists think was probably still attached to the skull.
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With sufficient funding, a full dig started in August 2024 and the skull was carefully excavated along with several other mastodon bones.
Doershuk went on to say: “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.
“There’s also potential evidence on the bones themselves - there could be identifiable cut marks.”
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The dig lasted for 12 days and, on completion, the team had unearthed multiple human-made stone tools but seem to be aged a few thousand years after the skull.
Now, scientists are planning to investigate any interaction humans have had with the mammal in order to figure out how it came to lie in the creek.
The OSA and UI Palaeontology Repository, which is housed in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, also intends to analyze the artifacts.
They will have a permanent home in an exhibit at the Prairie Trails Museum.