Indiana sewer project unearths trove of mastodon bones

SEYMOUR, Ind. – Workers installing sewer lines across a southern Indiana farm unearthed the fossilized bones of a mastodon that likely stood about 9 feet (2.7 metres) tall.

The bones include most of a tusk, parts of a skull and a jawbone with teeth. They were recently dug up on a farm in Seymour, about 60 miles (96 kilometres) south of Indianapolis.

Joe Schepman owns the farm with his family. He tells The Seymour Tribune that “it’s amazing to think about something this large roaming around this area.”

Ron Richards is senior research curator of paleobiology at the Indiana State Museum. He says the mastodon would have stood between 9 (2.7 metres) and 9 1/2 feet (2.8 metres) tall.

Richards says the fossil’s age will be determined using radiocarbon dating.

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Information from: The (Seymour) Tribune, http://www.tribtown.com