Remains of butchered mastodon found in Ohio

An excavation of a mastodon skeleton found by a farmer in Ohio has unearthed flints and charcoal that could reveal that the carcass was butchered by Ice Age hunters.

The bones mostly have been discovered on piles of rocks and gravel. The researchers have found bits of flint and lines of charcoal, too.

The soybean field leads to a bog, which the scientists say probably existed back in the Ice Age when it likely was a little bit bigger — maybe the size of a small lake.

All the evidence leads Brush to believe that Ice Age hunters chased this mastodon across the field, trapped it on the uneven wet ground near the lake, and then killed it, cleaned it on those rock piles and cooked the meat right there.

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Story: Laura Arenschield, The Columbus Dispatch | Photo: The Columbus Dispatch