'We're really hoping to find evidence of human interaction with this creature - perhaps the projectile points and knives that were used to kill the animal and do initial butchering,' said John Doershuk, director and state archaeologist at the University of Iowa. This indicates that archaeologists are not only looking at the bones but also for tools that might suggest how humans utilized the mastodon.
Using radiocarbon dating, the skull was determined to be 13,600 years old. The discovery marks a significant moment in understanding the co-existence of these giant creatures with early human settlers, potentially leading to insights about hunting practices of the time.
The team also found human-made artifacts, such as stone tools, which dated a few thousand years after the mastodon skull. This finding suggests that humans were present in the area and might have interacted with the mastodon, although more evidence is needed to substantiate those claims.
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