Michigan Farmer Was Digging in a Field When He Unearthed Something Staggering

this Michigan farmer was digging in a field when he entered something staggering it's a sunny September afternoon in Lima Township Michigan and a farmer and his friend are digging away in the 79 degree heat as their backhoe cuts through the soil it suddenly hit something salad the guys have struck something big but they don't yet realize quite how massive a find it will turn out to be farmer James Bristol and his friend were excavating the field in the vicinity of Chelsea Michigan in 2015 they had only intended to lay down a drainage pipe however their day was about to take a turn for the strange when they hit upon this solid item what could it have been upon striking the object the workers first thoughts were that it might be a fence post or a piece of wood yet they soon realized that it was something else altogether it was a bone and not just any bone this bone was big could it have been from a dinosaur like most of us the guys didn't have much experience in paleontology so they got in touch with the University of Michigan to help identify the find the University sent along professor Daniel Fisher head of its Museum of Paleontology Visser examined the fine soon afterward and confirmed that the bone had in fact belonged to a woolly mammoth rather than a dinosaur mammoths mostly died out about 10,000 years ago and while a small number of the large beasts survived until as recently as 3,600 years back to find any evidence of one is rare particularly in Michigan what's more this wasn't just any old woolly mammoth it was in fact an even rarer cross between a regular mammoth and a Columbian mammoth dubbed a Jeffersonian mammoth after founding father Thomas Jefferson Fisher estimated that the mammoth which left these bones had met its end around 11,000 to 15,000 years ago it had reached the age of 40 before most likely being butchered by humans the location of the bone suggests to Fisher that the humans who perhaps killed the animal and then deposited its carcass in a pond the professor had already seen this ancient method of storing meat and other finds mammoth discoveries are rare in Michigan where only ten similar examples have been found in recorded history far more commonly uncovered in the u.s. are the bones of the mammoths distant relation the Mastodon with more than 300 examples of the extinct animal having been discovered in the great lakes state alone back at the moment with bristles type farming schedule in mind time was of the essence at Fisher wanted to properly excavate the bones so dozens of his students and to local excavators chipped in to help on the dig which took place over a single day from dawn until dusk this was a particularly exciting find for Fisher and his team it was one of the most complete mammoth skeletons to have been unearthed in Michigan the discovery included a skull a pair of tusks T apalis shoulder blades and several vertebrae and ribs plus its careful and expert extraction from the ground by trained paleontologists meant it could prove to be more useful for scientific study then bones which have simply been yanked from the earth by untrained members of the public the way the mammoth remains it apparently been stored in a pond also opened up a range of theories surrounding the species relationship with humans found alongside the bones were three boulders which may have been brought into play to weigh down the owl and a stone flake which could be evidence of the mammoth having been butchered however at long-term studies would be needed to confirm such theories the question soon arose then of the availability of the bones for such extended scholarly use as the owner of the land on which the bones were found bristle could technically claim ownership of the skeleton it was his call as to what would happen next Fisher stressed the importance of the fine and hope the bristle would be kind enough to allow his team to continue to examine the bones these rare findings are important in enhancing our knowledge of the history and biology of these animals and lifestyles and habits of early humans he told ABC News studying this mammoth could also potentially tell us more about the climate system how it works and what kinds of changes happen over time which is something very relevant to us right now thankfully bristle made the right call and donated the bones directly to the University of Michigan for further research the remains may also be united with other bones to form a full skeleton for public display this find isn't just mine bristle said in a statement it belongs to everybody a lot of people will benefit from being able to see this mammoth for many years to come if I can make people happy by doing that then I consider that a good day bristle may have made the fine of a lifetime that day back in September but for work reasons he's not keen to repeat his discovery I hope it doesn't happen again he told the History Channel we need to get back to farming you

Channel: Facts Box

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Id: U4ZbRrV1Q_I

Length: 5min 3sec (303 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 05 2018