New York Man Finds Mastodon Jaw While Gardening in His Backyard

Researchers are celebrating the finding of a fossilized mastodon jaw that was discovered by a homeowner in upstate New York while gardening earlier this year.

The mastodon jaw, along with other bone fragments, was unearthed in late September in a backyard near Scotchtown, located approximately 70 miles northwest of New York City, according to officials from the New York State Museum.

The homeowner, who wishes to remain anonymous, first noticed two large teeth that he thought were baseballs, said Robert Feranec, the state museum’s director of research and collections and curator of Ice Age animals.

An excavation conducted by museum staff and the State University of New York’s Orange County campus revealed a complete, well-preserved jaw of an adult mastodon, as well as a piece of a toe bone and a rib fragment, museum officials reported.

“Although the jaw is the main attraction, the additional toe and rib fragments provide important context and potential for further research,” stated Cory Harris, chair of SUNY Orange’s behavioral sciences department. “We are also planning to explore the surrounding area to search for any additional preserved bones.”

Officials from the Albany-based state museum noted that this jaw is the first complete mastodon jaw discovered in New York in over a decade. More than 150 fossils of the extinct elephant relative have been found throughout the state, with about one-third of them located in Orange County within the same vicinity as the recent discovery.

Feranec emphasized that the newly found jaw offers “a unique opportunity to study the ecology of this magnificent species, which will contribute to our understanding of the Ice Age ecosystems in this region.”

The fossils will undergo carbon dating and analysis to determine the mastodon’s age, diet, and habitat, and will eventually be displayed to the public in 2025, according to museum officials.