Farmer stunned as he discovery 15,000-year-old Mammoth Skeleton in wheat field

A Michigan farmer was stunned when he unearthed a 15,000-year-old mammoth skeleton on his land.

James Bristle dug up the skull, tusks and other bones of the animal that had likely been butchered by early human hunters.

Bristle made the incredible discovery as he installed a drainage pipe in one of his wheat fields near Ann Arbor.

 

Bristle's backhoe had bumped into a 3-foot-long bone, later identified as part of a mammoth pelvis, according to paleontologists at the University of Michigan.

Daniel Fisher, director of the university's Museum of Paleontology, said the bones were from a mammoth that was a rare hybrid between a woolly mammoth and Columbian mammoth, reported ABC News.

 

"We think that humans were here and may have butchered and stashed the meat so that they could come back later for it," he said.

Fisher said the mammoth was likely at least 40 years old when it was killed somewhere between 11,700 to 15,000 years ago.

"When my 5-year-old grandson came over and saw the pelvis, he just stood there with his jaw wide open and stared," Bristle added.

In total, 20 percent of the mammoth's bones, including its skull, two tusks, teeth, pelvis, shoulder blades and numerous vertebrae and ribs were recovered by dozens of Fisher's students and Bristle's friends and family.

"I've been digging up hundreds of thousands of pounds of dirt for the past 45 years, and I've never had an experience quite like this," said Jamie Bollinger, a local excavator, who helped the team.

The bones are currently in a shop on the farm, and the pit has now been filled in, Fisher said.

"These rare findings are important in enhancing our knowledge of the history and biology of these animals and lifestyle and habits of early humans,” Fisher added.

“Studying this mammoth could also potentially tell us more about the climate system, how it works and what kinds of changes happen over time, which is something very relevant to us right now."