New facts on mastodon hunting in N.Am. Oct 21, 2011 23:23:30 GMT Quote Select PostDeselect PostLink to PostMemberGive GiftBack to Top Post by bixaorellana on Oct 21, 2011 23:23:30 GMT Click on the photo to be taken to a really coolwebsite w/links to excellent in-depth articles.Don't miss the interactive map.from The Guardian - click text for full storyMastodons were hunted in North America 800 years earlier than thought. A mastodon was found in 1977 by a farmer in Washington named Emanuel Manis. He contacted archaeologist Carl Gustafson, who excavated the skeleton and noticed a pointed object embedded in its rib. Gustafson took a fuzzy x-ray and interpreted the object as a projectile point made of bone or antler. By dating organic matter around the fossil, he estimated that it was about 14,000 years old.This date and the allegation that the object was man-made were both challenged by other archeologiestsDecades later, Professor Michael Waters from Texas A&M University placed the mastodon in an industrial-grade CT scanner at the University of Texas. His conclusion: "The 3D rendering clearly showed that the object was sharpened to a tip. It was clearly the end of a bone projectile point."Waters analysed collagen protein from the mastodon's rib and tusks to confirm that the animal died about 13,800 years ago, almost exactly as Gustafson predicted.