Finding Michigan's Mastodons
by Harley Berger, Vice-President
At the time that mastodons were living in Michigan the
glaciers of the last Ice Age were receding and a northern forest habitat
was taking their place. Although long extinct due to climate change and
hunting by Paleo-Indians, try to imagine these close relatives of today's
elephants loping casually through what became your backyard, because they
may very well have done just that.
In January of 1992 Harry Brennan began excavating on his land near Saline,
in order to construct a pond that his grandchildren could enjoy. In the
process some Mastodon bones were uncovered. Remarkable enough, but during
the subsequent dig by paleontologists not only were additional bones
found, but a series of Mastodon tracks as well! The latter proved
especially exciting, in as much as it was the first Mastodon "trackway"
ever found anywhere! The 50 meters of footprints were laid down some
11,000 years ago, when an adult Mastodon male, female and calf sauntered
across the shore of an ancient pond.
Join us on Saturday, June 21, when our guest speaker Dave Thomas,
Geology Instructor at Washtenaw Community College, will show us slides of
the Brennan Mastodon and trackway, other Michigan fossil finds and discuss
his successful campaign to make the Mammoth the State Fossil. Mr. Thomas
will share his first-hand experiences on digs for Mammoths and dinosaurs
in Michigan and across the country, and will also be bringing along some
of the fossils found. |
