Mastodon Site Materials Await Winter Lab Tests

Cedar Creek Mastodon Site's Unit 13, excavated to the "O to 50 centimeter level" (0 to  1 toot 7 and 11/16 inches) had this photo taken for scientific documentation of exposed features.  One volunteer speculates that Feature D  could be part of a leg bone that extends into adjacent Unit 14--and that Features A1 to A4 could be part of a fire pit used to process some of the mastodon.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Possible hammerstone used to smash bones (near two red flags).   Unit 5 leader Richard Gross  lets high school freshman  Susanne Klein take a break from sifting dirt to join him in the more hard core work of excavating with a trowel.   On Oct. 25, we found flint carried to the site, presumably by prehistoric Native Americans, as well as two possible bone scrapers made from the flint.  (Photo by Don Comis)

It was a great day back at the Morrow County (Ohio) mastodon dig after my three week absence.  As soon as I got there I was struck by how many bones were exposed in the pits.   There are several pits—plots or Units--each 2 by 2 meters square (almost 7- by 7-feet square).

I was assigned to Unit 5 and it already had a possible hammerstone exposed from the last dig.  And our volunteer Unit 5 leader, Richard Gross--from the Sandusky Bay Chapter of the Archaeological Society of Ohio--said it has been very productive, providing a lot of evidence of Paleo-Indians butchering the mastodon.   This included the possible hammerstone—large round stones used as hammers or mauls, which the Indians may carry around in their “tool belt”.  In this case, the hammerstone might have been used to break mastodon bones.

Largest rock (upper part of photo), shown in Unit 5 on Oct. 25,  could be a hammerstone used to smash mastodon bones.  For scientists, lab tests for mastodon blood are needed for proof.  Amateur archaeologists look for marks from the stone used to hammer objects.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Richard Gross led the excavation on Unit 5 on Oct. 25.  His excavated dirt goes into the bucket for sifting.  Bones, flint, charcoal, etc., go into the paper bag, with possible flint artifacts wrapped in tinfoil.   The possible hammerstone lies near his yellow kneeling pad.   There are so many finds in the 7-foot-square plot that Gross only allows one other person with him at a time.   (Photo by Don Comis)

In response to a question I e-mailed him after the Oct. 25 dig, Dr. Nigel Brush, the Ashland University professor leading the excavation, said, “The only way to determine if the large rock from Unit 5 was a maul for breaking up bone is to send it to a lab for residue analysis (which we may do this winter).”   I guess that would be a DNA analysis to test for the presence of mastodon blood.  

    

Brush had other cautions in an e-mail message to me before the Oct. 25 dig:  “We may work at the site again next summer and or fall, depending on what our analysis turns up over the winter.  Given the shattered state of the bones, this is not a good site for recovering specimens for display.  Moreover, we have yet to find any definite artifacts.  Therefore, unless protein residues can be found on the flint flakes, or cut marks on the bone that reveal this was a butchery site, there is not much reason to continue excavating (in my opinion).”

Bone Scraping Tools?

We found two possible used scraping tools made from flint as we sifted soil dug from Unit 5, along with a lot of similar pieces and chunks of flint.   Brush said he hasn’t checked possible artifacts from the Oct. 25 dig yet and that he hasn’t seen any flint scrapers at the site so far.  If they do turn out to be flint scrapers, the one I found would be the first artifact I've found in my lifetime (because I've only searched once, for 15 minutes, on a farm field, to date).

 

Some of the flint found at the site seemed to have come from out of the area, presumably brought to the site by the people who butchered the mastodon.   Brush confirmed the flint was from out of the area, saying, “…Delaware chert was apparently brought to the site, as well as a piece of Upper Mercer chert from Coshocton County."

Upper Mercer chert (flint), found in bedrock  that is about 300 million years old,  is one of two of the most widely used flints in Ohio, the other being the colorful flint from Flint Ridge.  Delaware chert, found in bedrock that is more like 400 million years old, was used mostly locally where it was found, from Columbus north to Lake Erie.

I and other volunteers think it is likely the Paleo-Indians carried chunks of flint in their tool kits, available to make tools or weapons when needed.

New Finds From Oct. 25 Dig

In his Oct. 28 e-mail to the volunteers, Brush cited these new finds from the Oct. 25 dig:  “1) a possible feature in Unit 13, (2) a bovine incisor, and (3) a bone with something embedded in it (possibly just the root of a mastodon tooth).”

The unspecified features in Unit 13 were noteworthy enough to have photo documentation taken (see photo above).    In an e-mail to the volunteers on Oct. 29, Glen Boatman-- one of the participants-- shared his thoughts and ideas about the features, including that one might be part of a crushed leg bone found in adjacent Unit 14, and another might be a fire pit used to process parts of the mastodon.  Boatman also suggested that the fire pit may have been built with cobblestones from a nearby creek bed since cobblestones were found in Unit 16, at a depth of 2 to 3 feet.

The bovine incisor, found only on the lower jaw, might be from the mastodon.*  If so, that would be the fifth tooth found so far, and the first incisor found, I think.

The significance of something embedded in bone is that Brush is looking for spear heads or other weapons that were used to kill the mastodon.

The volunteers included several members of the Sandusky Bay Archaeological Society Chapter, as well as members of two other chapters—including one I belong to, the Kokosing Chapter in Mt. Vernon, Ohio.  In his Oct. 28 e-mail to the volunteers,   Brush said that besides Archaeological Society members, there were people from four universities, a number of visitors, two film crews, and about a dozen PhDs.

Hunting the Mastodon Documentary

I met Aaron Martin who is filming a documentary on the excavation called Hunting the Mastodon. He reads this blog and promises to send me a link to some of the footage he has shot in mid-November, so I can post it here!  Aaron works for Detroit Public Television, but the documentary is his own independent project, and he is planning to continue to follow the investigation into the mastodon site as it moves into the lab for the winter.

We found so many small pieces of bone on Oct. 25, some from tusks, that the first little brown bag we filled from sifting dirt from Unit 5 seemed to weigh 10 pounds.  We then switched to a new bag.   One of the new participants called me eagle eye, because, three weeks of experience, coupled with plenty of bones to uncover in the soil dug down to the 18-inch level, made it easy.  And, the autumn angle of the sun helped too.   The sunlight easily highlighted many pieces of bones so that their reddish clay-like color stood out.

The Unit 5 leader told me that flint similarly shines in a farm field after it is plowed.  That day, I learned what should have been obvious to me long ago:  When looking for tools or weapons made by prehistoric Native Americans (Paleo-Indians), learn what flint looks like and only look for flint.   This is good for beginners like me to avoid collecting a pile of stones that happen to look man-made. 

Naturally there are exceptions, like hammerstones, which are big heavy round rocks, I guess of many types.  But it would be hard for beginners like me to distinguish these from any other round rocks.

Context is important—so such a rock found near mastodon bones like at our site would be highly suspect as a hammerstone.   And hammerstones and other artifacts are most likely to be found near rivers Indians might have traveled on, exposed on farm fields by plowing.

On Oct. 25, I learned another tip about spotting bone pieces—when scratched with a fingernail, they show a shiny spot.  So the day was very productive for me, for sure.

*Correction:   On Nov. 4, I learned that the incisor was probably from a cow--mastodons don't have incisors.

Note:  I also have a website where I post information and photos on archaeology finds as well as all other aspects of natural history.  This blog and website began to catch the spillover from the monthly stories I write for the Apple Valley Cider Press, mainly a regular "Nature Article" feature.

Mastodon Dig Wrapping Up With Pile of Bones, Flint, Charcoal, and Four Teeth

Ohio History Connection Archaeology Blog's "Diorama showing mastodon being butchered by Clovis hunters". The Ohio History Connection, formerly the Ohio Historical Society, has a museum at its headquarters in Columbus, Ohio.

On Saturday, October 18, volunteers at the Cedar Creek Mastodon Site dig in Morrow County found a fourth mastodon tooth, which leaves only four more left to be found.  It was a tooth found by a farmer after drainage pipe was laid in his soybean field that prompted the excavation which began in August.  In addition to the teeth, volunteers have found parts of bones from legs, ribs, ankles, and tusks.

In his October 21 e-mail to volunteers, Ashland University’s Dr. Nigel Brush said, “Last Saturday, the volunteers who braved the cold made excellent progress on the excavation and also completed the excavation and removal of the fourth mastodon tooth from the site.  There are four teeth in the mandible and four in the maxillary. We have two front and two back teeth, but have not yet determined whether they are from the mandible or maxillary (or both).”

Brush said that there are only four units left to excavate, with one, Unit 15, almost done.  In his Oct. 14 e-mail Brush had  said that volunteers in Unit 15 are “still excavating a pile of rocks, bones, and flint flakes in the western 1/3 … Portions of two rib bones are visible in this unit.”

Goal:  Finish for Season by Nov. 8, More Work Next Year

The goal is to finish by November 8, weather permitting—but just for the winter.

In an article in the Sunday (Oct. 19) Columbus Dispatch newspaper 

Brush  said that the dig could go on for “as long as two years.”

By October 11, the volunteers  had finally reached  down to the layer containing most of the mastodon bones. 

The article explains the possible significance of finding the bones on piles of rock and gravel:  The Paleo-Indians may have butchered and cleaned the mastodon on those rocks.

Brush’s  Oct. 1 report to volunteers says  that “We are finally coming down on the layer containing the mastodon bones, although the long bones and ribs are broken into pieces…The bones are scattered about and lying on top of a gravel/cobble layer.  A few flint flakes are also being recovered from this layer.”

The flint flakes could be parts of weapons or tools  used by prehistoric Paleo-Indians to kill or butcher the mastodon.  The Dispatch article says that some of the pieces have been sent for testing for the presence of mastodon blood.

Charcoal found at the site could mean the Ice Age hunters cooked and maybe smoked some of the meat at the site.

Who Were First People in North America?

In his Oct. 12 column in the Columbus Dispatch , John Switzer talks about the controversy over who the first people who occupied North and South America were.   I first learned about the controversy while talking to a student at the Morrow County dig.   I had always thought that the first people were Paleo-Indians who arrived about 13,000 years ago.  They were called Clovis people, based on the fluted style of their projectiles, some of which have been found in Ohio, Switzer said, and some embedded in mastodon bones.   Now some archaeologists believe the Clovis people were preceded by 3,000 years by a different group of Paleo-Indians.

It still amazes me that people did not arrive in the Americas until 16,000 years ago, I guess blocked by the Ice Age!

In his October 2 report, Dr. Brush also asked for volunteers during the week to help with the lab work at Ashland University, saying that, “In addition to our Saturday excavations….there is a significant amount of work to do back in the lab at Ashland University in order to clean, sort, catalogue, and store the materials we are recovering from the site. “

I missed the past three digs (Sept. 27, Oct. 4, and Oct. 11), but hope to make the Oct. 25 dig, and the remaining digs, and maybe work at least one day at the University lab.

Making Ice Age Weapons on a 3-D Printer!

In an interesting post on the Ohio History Connection blog, Brad Lepper  shows a replica of the fluted spear style that marks the Clovis people, made by a laser scan. 

 He says they can “create near perfect 3D digital models of the objects.  These digital models can be reproduced in plastic using a 3D printer allowing us to generate as many copies as we want from a digital ‘mold’ that will never wear out. These reproductions can be used as hands-on educational resources or sales items for the museum shop.”

Lepper also has a great “Diorama showing a mastodon being butchered by Clovis hunters”,  that gives probably a fairly realistic idea of how it was done.  It shows Paleo-Indians hanging the meat on a  rack, which I would  think could have been for smoking the meat as well as for cooking it. 

Did Ice Age Hunters Hunt More Rabbits Than Mastodons?

Lepper also has a link to a 2008 column he wrote for the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch newspaper  in which he discusses a finding that of eight Clovis knives examined, half had the blood or rabbits.  The other four knives, Lepper reports,“ were stained with the blood of a variety of relatively large mammals, including both cervid (caribou, deer or elk) and bison blood on one [knife], bison blood on another, bear blood on a third, and white-tailed deer blood on the fourth.

As further proof that the Clovis hunters were not the macho big-game hunters usually depicted, Lepper cites a Cree Indian from northern Ontario telling an anthropologist that he lived on rabbit all one winter.

As an amateur who has only the experience of living with a group of Cree Indians in far northern Saskatchewan decades ago, I can say that they just about only hunted moose.  They supplemented their diet  by catching fish in large nets year-round and with beaver meat, from the animals they trapped for fur.  But I never saw them with a dead rabbit.

We, on the other as rank amateurs depended on snaring rabbits.  The trapper who was the main hunter for the group agreed we could stay in one of his cabins as long as we only trapped animals like squirrels and rabbits, which he did not trap for fur.  We lived off squirrels and rabbits and fish, beaver, and moose provided by this hunter/trapper.   He taught us to smoke our fish in a tee-pee style rack.

Giant Rabbits?

The story of living off rabbit reminds me of a man from a company trying to convince the Crees and other Canadians to allow a pulp mill near Saksatchewan’s La Ronge.  He told us that even if there were no moose because the woods was clear cut, the Crees could live on the rabbits, which would be much bigger because they’d have more shrubs to browse on!  Also, rabbit populations rise and fall in a cycle, which would make them a less dependable—not to mention smaller—source of food.

I’ll grant Lepper one point though, as shown by his diorama, women may have done most of the butchering work, not to mention cooking!

Handling Smithsonian Museum Pieces by Computer

Lepper’s description of the spearpoint replicas reminds me of the scans of a mastodon skeleton made by the University of Michigan’s  Museum of Paleontology, which I wrote about on September 24.  

And Lepper gives a link to the Smithsonian’s “X3D Beta” work with a whale skeleton, a wooly mammoth skeleton, and other museum specimens that are fun (as well as educational) to maneuver!

The difference is that the Smithsonian and Michigan Museums are putting their collection online for examination in 3-D from all angles, as though handling the artifacts, while the Ohio History Connection museum is giving people copies to handle or keep.