Unanticipated discovery of ice-age bones of Mammoth

An unanticipated discovery of the ice-age bones of a mammoth that was likely slaughtered by ancient humans was found in wheat field last week by two Michigan farmers. It was found that the bones were of an adult male mammoth that had a doomed end.

Daniel Fisher, a University of Michigan paleontologist who led the excavation, said in a statement, "We think that humans were here and may have butchered and stashed the meat [in a pond] so that they could come back later for it".

The mammoth was found on September 28 by farmer and property owner James Bristle. According to the Detroit Free Press, Bristle was installing a drainage pipe at his farm near Ann Arbor with his neighbor Trent Satterthwaite. While Bristle was digging out by using a backhoe, he excavated a bone about 3 feet long, which researchers later on documented as part of a mammoth pelvis.

After the whole scenario, Bristle contacted the University of Michigan, a team of about 15 paleontologists and university students arrived at the excavated site. As the farming season was going on, so Bristle could only give a day to the scientists to uncover the bones.

The paleontologists uncovered 20% of the mammoth's bones, which included multiple vertebrae and ribs, the skull and two tusks, the pelvis and both shoulder blades. Fisher said that it was estimated the mammoth lived 11,700 to 15,000 years ago.

"We didn't know what it was, but we knew it was certainly a lot bigger than a cow bone," Bristle said in the statement.
"When my 5-year-old grandson came over and saw the pelvis, he just stood there with his jaw wide open and stared. He was in awe," Bristle said. "So I think this was the right thing to do."