Archeologists have unearthed a complete mastodon jaw along with additional bone fragments in the backyard of an Upstate New York home, officials announced Tuesday.
The “stunning prehistoric find” came after a homeowner in Scotchtown, some 65 miles northwest of Midtown Manhattan, found “two unusual teeth concealed by plant fronds” on their property.
Intrigued, the homeowner began digging around the area and found two additional teeth just inches underground, the New York State Museum said in a news release. That’s when the resident realized the importance of the discovery.
“When I found the teeth and examined them in my hands, I knew they were something special and decided to call in the experts,” the homeowner said in a statement.
Excavation efforts by the museum and SUNY Orange staff later yielded a “full, well-preserved mastodon jaw belonging to an adult, as well as a piece of a toe bone and a rib fragment.”
Carbon dating will help scientists determine the mastodon’s age, diet, and habitat during its lifetime.
Mastodons, which were distant cousins of mammoths and modern-day elephants, went extinct around 13,000 years ago. Fossils of the American mastodon have been found from Alaska to central Mexico.
The remarkable find, which marked the first such discovery in the state in more than 11 years, will help scientists have a better understanding of the region’s Ice Age inhabitants.
“This discovery is a testament to the rich paleontological history of New York and the ongoing efforts to understand its past,” according to Dr. Robert Feranec, director of Research & Collections and curator of Ice Age Animals at the New York State Museum.
Of the more than 150 mastodon fossils found across the state, roughly one-third of them were excavated in Orange County, establishing the region as the “premier hotspot for these ancient relatives of modern elephants” in the state, scientists said.
The recent discovery will be exhibited to the public in 2025, “following preservation and scientific analysis,” according to the museum.
