Huge 13,600-year-old mastodon skull and bones unearthed in Iowa

Researchers have unearthed a well-preserved, roughly 13,600-year-old mastodon skull from a creek in Iowa — the first ever found in the state.

The discovery comes two years after residents of Wayne County, in the south of the state, reported finding an extremely long bone protruding from the creek. At the time, archaeologists examined the bone and identified it as a mastodon femur. This spiked their interest and led them to further excavate the site in the hopes of discovering more of the animal.