Many of my favorite news stories are those that involve unearthing something unexpected in the backyard.
Whether rescuing puppies that are trapped in a drainage pipe, or discovering the remains of a long extinct animal, there is something very exciting about finding a surprise in a hole in the ground.
So when I saw what one farmer in Michigan unearthed, I absolutely had to know more.
James Bristle's family has owned Michigan farmland since the 1950s. Recently, he purchased a new piece of land across from his farm. While digging in his newly acquired soy field, James and a friend came upon a startling and amazing discovery.
Not only was there something buried underneath the field, but that once-living creature had been there for at least 10,000 years. I couldn't believe what they found!
Scroll though below to see James's shocking discovery. What would you do if you stumbled upon this in your backyard? Let us know in the comments!
h/t: Ann Arbor News
When James and his friend were digging in the soy field, they found something very unexpected. James told the Ann Arbor News, "We thought it was a bent fence post. It was covered in mud."
But very quickly James realized that it was no fence post at all. It was the remains of some very large animal. He said, "It was probably a rib bone that came up."
When experts arrived on the scene, they soon discovered the remains of a woolly mammoth that had roamed the earth between 10,000 and 15,000 years ago.
James told Ann Arbor News, "We knew it was something that was out of the norm. My grandson came over to look at it — he's 5 years old — he was speechless."
Workers at the site worked very quickly to beat daylight and get the skull and tusk removed from the ground.
At the site, University of Michigan Professor Dan Fischer told Ann Arbor News that the creature was likely 40 years old when it died, and that it was probably killed by humans for food and stored in a pond. He said, "They did that to store meat and come back to it later."
Fisher continued that this amazing discovery was quite unique, with only 10 such large-scale skeletons being unearthed in the history of the state of Michigan.
Fisher and the other workers removed smaller bones from the animal and put them in plastic bags for later study.
With the skull, tusk, and other bones removed, the next task will be for researchers to clean and examine the remains.
In the examination, experts will look to see if the woolly mammoth was actually killed by humans. If it was, this could help to shed light on the timeline of humans' arrival in North America.
This incredible 10,000-year-old find has got to be one of the coolest discoveries, while also remaining one of the most important. James certainly got the shock of a lifetime when he began digging in his field!
What do you think about this amazing discovery? Let us know in the comments!
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