A fascinating discovery has been made in the backyard of a home in Scotchtown, Orange County, New York—a complete jaw of a mastodon, along with a few other parts of this prehistoric giant. Mastodons, extinct relatives of today’s elephants, once roamed the region thousands of years ago.
The story began in late September when the homeowner stumbled upon something extraordinary. While tending to his property, he noticed two enormous teeth beneath the shade of some plants. Intrigued, he dug a little deeper and unearthed two more teeth just a few inches underground.
“When I held the teeth in my hands, I knew they were something special,” said the homeowner, who prefers to remain anonymous. Realizing this was no ordinary find, he reached out to experts from the New York State Museum and SUNY Orange for help.
The team’s excavation efforts paid off, revealing a full-grown mastodon jaw, along with a piece of a toe bone and a rib fragment. Anthropologist Cory Harris from SUNY Orange emphasized the significance of the discovery. “The jaw is the main highlight, but the toe and rib fragments provide important context and open up possibilities for further research,” he said. The team is now considering additional digs in the area to search for more bones.
Scientists are currently analyzing the jaw to learn more about the mastodon’s age, diet, and the environment it lived in. Carbon dating will help determine just how long these bones have been buried in New York’s soil.
According to Robert Feranec, an evolutionary ecologist and curator of ice-age animals at the New York State Museum, this discovery is a reminder of the region’s rich prehistoric past. “This jaw offers a rare chance to understand more about mastodons and the ice-age ecosystems they lived in,” he explained. “Fossils like these are like time capsules—they help us reconstruct ancient worlds and make sense of the one we live in today.”
New York is no stranger to mastodon fossils. Over 150 have been found across the state, with about a third of them coming from Orange County. However, it’s been 11 years since the last significant find. Many of the museum’s fossil collection, including 16,000 specimens from local sites, dates back about 15,000 years to the Late Pleistocene, a time when the Earth was much colder and massive glaciers shaped the landscape.
The Late Pleistocene, spanning from about 129,000 to 11,700 years ago, was a period when mastodons and other megafauna thrived. But by the end of this icy era, around 35 species of these massive animals, including mastodons, had disappeared from North America. Scientists are still piecing together why they went extinct, with theories ranging from climate change to human involvement.
One of the most intriguing aspects of mastodon finds is their potential connection to early humans. In nearby Dutchess Quarry Caves, for instance, artifacts like a rare Paleo-Indian stone tool known as a fluted point were discovered, showing evidence of human presence during the last ice age. It’s unclear whether the newly uncovered mastodon remains will offer any clues about early human activity in the area, but researchers are hopeful.
“Each discovery like this helps us piece together New York’s incredible history,” said Feranec. For now, the jaw and its accompanying fragments hold secrets waiting to be unlocked, and scientists are eager to let the bones tell their story.
