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OAKTOWN – Mine workers in southwestern Indiana have unearthed the tusks and skeletal remains of a prehistoric elephant that lived more than 12,000 years ago.
The workers were digging a coal slurry storage pit recently at Vectren’s Black Panther Mine about 30 miles south of Terre Haute when they noticed the fossil mastodon bones in a backhoe shovel.
After realizing the importance of the find, the crew notified the Indiana Division of Reclamation, which regulates mining operations.
Division of Reclamation archaeologist Tim Wright praised the workers for saving the fossils of the prehistoric elephant and contacting the state.
"It’s just an accident they ran into it and they did the right thing by notifying us," Wright said.
He said the bones include pieces of ribs, skull, tusks and a kneecap. The fossilized remains have been turned over to the Indiana State Museum for further study and preservation.
Wright said Vectren has set aside the dirt in which the fossils were found. Paleontologists from the state museum have conducted more searches for additional remains.
Wright said there is no agreement between Vectren and the museum to conduct any further searches in the surrounding mine area.
"There’s nothing in mining law that covers paleontology," he said.
Mastodons were similar to the woolly mammoth but had straighter tusks as well as different teeth and eating habits. They lived in North America during the Pleistocene period from at least 3.75 million years ago until about 11,000 years ago before going extinct.
Early humans hunted both mastodons and their larger cousins, mammoths.
