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.