Mammoth Excavation Near Chelsea, Michigan

An ancient mammoth unearthed in a farmer's field southwest of Ann Arbor this week may provide clues about the lives of early humans in the region. Learn more: myumi.ch/JNN73

[@TransientVisions]

It's intriguing to imagine such massive animals wandering that very landscape, thousands of years ago and being pursued by ancient humans for sustenance.. Thanks to the astute farmers who discovered the mammoth remains and alerted paleontologists of this important find. Kudos also to the excavator and hard working volunteers who put in the time and effort needed to recover the bones on such short notice. Well done! I especially enjoyed learning that the awe of the landowner's 5 year old grandson upon seeing the mammoth's enormous pelvis helped validate the decision to initiate the recovery. Thank you, James Bristle!

[@TransientVisions]

+Willy bob - At first, your comment seemed implausible, as the oldest pyramid in Egypt was built less than 4,600 years ago (the stepped pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara), while the paleontologist in the video says the mammoth skeleton dates from 10,000 to 15,000 years ago. In view of the 5,000+ year gap between those dates and the general understanding that mammoths died out at the end of the Pleistocene Period about 10,000 years ago, I thought you must be mistaken. However it turns out that a viable population of mammoths lived on Wrangel Island in Siberia until as recently as 3,700 years ago, so your comment is accurate. (I was amazed to learn this!) There is even a living contemporary to those Wrangel Island mammoths: A 4,800+ year old bristlecone pine In California..

[@dustynbones]

Need to get ground radar to check out the entire field for more fossils.

[@vincentschulze]

i understand that time was short. but still the way they lifted it seemed really unconvenient and you could see the tusk breaking in mid-air. even in a short time a few more ropes would have protected it properly.

[@ctafrance]

Is there any way to follow up on this story now, in 2023? Anybody paying attention to the comment section here 7 years later?

[@rollofnickles]

I wonder if ice and the movement of ice had something to do with the articulation and missing parts of the animal?

[@VloggyBuddy]

Has anyone noticed how when it was being lifted up, the tusks were intact. But when they were laying them down, one of the tusks was broken. They must have broken it.

[@barleymob9913]

+VloggyBuddy At 0:02 you can kinda see the tusk "snap" but didn't break all the way in that particular scene

[@barleymob9913]

+MrZapparin Not exactly, they made some good points about the way the bones were scattered and the stones found nearby. If the stones are just a coincidence and it wasn't killed by humans, it was likely still killed by something else rather than dying off naturally.

[@TehBananaBread]

+VloggyBuddy Jep they fucked up on the left tusk badly.

[@dettlins]

+VloggyBuddy The whole thing is in terrible shape from the elements as it was. You can see all the zip-ties around it trying to hold it together because they knew it was not solid. Lifting it out was an extremely difficult task anyway.

[@dettlins]

+MrZapparin They had one day to remove it. Everything went quickly.

[@ctafrance]

10 to 15,000 years ago is not that long. Mankind lived among them, or vice versa. Quite a challenging environment.

[@cherubicnerd]

how deep was the mammoth in the ground? i'm surprised it wasn't found sooner (no one farmed on it before now?)

[@dettlins]

+cherubicnerd It was at least 6-7 feet underground.

[@cherubicnerd]

thanks! i expected a lot more feet but i'm guessing you don't need that many feet to grow food. awesome avatar,btw.

[@dettlins]

Thanks! She's a "special" cat lol. They were actually digging that deep to put in new drainage tile for the field.

[@cherubicnerd]

aww! "special" pets need love too!

[@martial7246]

Superbe découverte, very good

[@crumplezone1]

He roamed earth when `All the world was very young and mountain magic heavy hung` - Bowie `the Supermen`

[@JomaraMerano]

This is way too cool!

[@carlos-nc7cw]

can you clone a mammoth , ground sloth and a saber tooth tiger that will be so cool and awesome in a ZOO

[@69inbed]

This was too cool !

[@TranNguyenVungLay]

Bible (6000yrs) vs Mammoth (10,000yrs - 13,000yrs).

[@Ceo588]

+Tran Nguyen Lol it completely disapproves that shit right away.... Hard to believe in something that can be instantly wrong in one day.

[@sc18594]

+Tran Nguyen God put mammoth skeletoons in the ground when he created everything, because god works in mysterious ways. Theres alway a biblical explaination see.

[@aislinnvasquez5955]

so he created mammoths and put it on earth, even before earth existed???^

[@sc18594]

Aislinn Vasquez >Mysterious ways.

[@troywilson7239]

Awesome!

[@ChrisVTitus]

I live nearby this place.

[@Spivitz71]

Very Cool

[@grantstamm9763]

that is just the coolest damn thing ever

[@Annoying_Killah]

Cool

[@SchnoeselHD]

wie findet man sowas

[@nunzinho91]

Good job :)

[@EwOLNATION]

Good job breaking it.

[@tierramadise9716]

,they dint brake it. it decomposed and those were the bones left.

[@katherinebittner1300]

WAY COOL!!!!!

[@Steve-iv3sx]

My question is this: are these fossils the property of the farmer who found them? or own by the government?

[@StormLaker]

+Steve Chua if the farmer wanted to keep it to himself he most certainly could have, however he chose to call the university so that his discovery could be shared with others for generations to come. My dad and I used to hunt for arrowheads/artifacts as a kid, if we found a good bunch of them we would share them with the landowner. These landowners were friends with my dad and grampa and always were curious to what we found. I still have a shoebox full of arrow/spear heads from when I was a kid (this was 40 years ago, haha. But we also found larger artifacts that most of the time we just gave them to the land owner. We have a couple museums in the area that also have the same types of artifacts that others have found.

[@TransientVisions]

+Steve Chua - Question regarding the legal ownership of found ancient artifacts depends on the country and the nature of the find. Fossils and found treasure of historic significance are not necessarily 'finders keepers' or property of the landowner, but may be legally be the default property of the state. Other parties may also lay claim, such as when gold or silver is recovered from sunken vessels lost at sea whose cargo's provenance is a matter of historic record. In cases where ancient human remains are accidentally uncovered, legal protocols come into play. For example, when Kennewick man's 9,000+ year old skeletal remains were found in Washington State 1996, a nine year legal tug-of-war ensued. Scientists wanted to study the bones, but local native tribes claimed him as an ancestor under a 1990 law known as the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and wanted to re-bury his remains without further study. Being one of the oldest nearly complete human skeletons ever found in North America, scientists were especially keen to learn everything possible about the remains. Not to go too far off topic. You can Google for more info if interested.

[@dsafgrjh]

damn that elephant was drunk loosing so many parts of himself...

[@henrybrooks321]

Should of kept it quiet they will dig your whole field up for the next 5 years now

[@mooietelebogen2352]

+Henry They can't just dig in a farmer's field without his/her consent. The farmers could even ask for money to allow them to dig.

[@henrybrooks321]

+Mooie Telebogen don't be too sure because in nz where I live they were modifying a main road and they found some maori heritage something and they made them stop construction for a nearly half a year while they flew somone over to inspect it was the biggest joke

[@mooietelebogen2352]

Henry Where I live, the city wanted to build a recreational centre and needed space, so they had to buy land off a farmer.

[@xiguishi1915]

Really want to see in the past, it's a pity that I'm in China。

[@MrBytar]

O kadar büyük değil be.. fil kadar anca! :D

[@michaellipousky9143]

If that were my field, I would give you a month to excavate it. And I would probably give you another hundred feet all the way around it. But at least the jack wagon gave you a day!

[@woodsman335]

My mother-in-law buried it. Old bat.

[@MyMrsamsam]

if you like dirt this job is for you :D

[@MaximusN84]

Заебись чо, фартануло