The King Mastodon
Excavation Project
By Dr.
Julie Morrow
Arkansas Archeological Survey
ASU Station - Jonesboro
In
April 1999, Mr. George King brought large bones to the
Arkansas State University Museum. Found by Mr.
Joey Smith during routine dredging of Little Bay Ditch, near Bay, Arkansas, the
large bones were identified as Mastodon (Mammut americanum). The bones included
several ribs, vertebra, and a partial maxilla (upper jaw) with one tooth row
intact as well as tusk fragments (Figure 1).
Mastodons are ice age animals that became extinct about 11,000 years ago. Mr.
King told John Thomas, Station Assistant for the Arkansas Archeological Survey's
Jonesboro Station at ASU, where the bones were found
(Figure 3). I named the King Mastodon
Site, after Mr. George King, and assigned an Arkansas State Site Number
following the Smithsonian trinomial system: 3CG1093 (3=Arkansas, CG=Craighead
County, and 1093=the 1093rd site recorded in Craighead County). I visited the
site with Thomas, and Tony Marshall, a long time avocational archeologist from
Jonesboro, shortly after the bones were brought to ASU. We excavated a cut bank
profile several feet into the ditch bottom to explore and document the
sedimentary deposits from which the bones were retrieved. Additional bone
fragments, nutshells, leaves and wood were recovered from gray sandy clay at the
base of the profile.
Several
days later, a celebration was held at the ASU Museum in honor of their recently
acquired mastodon cast (Figure 2). During
that event, some of the mastodon bones Mr. King had brought to the museum were
displayed for public viewing. I contacted the landowner of the King Mastodon
site, Mr. Steve Cox, to gain permission to monitor the site in order to recover
additional bones and investigate their context. Constant monitoring of the site
was necessary throughout much of the summer of 1999 due to dry conditions that
resulted in increased irrigation and run-off. We found many bones eroding out of
a gray sandy clay at the bottom of Little Bay Ditch. Tony Marshall was
responsible for much of the site monitoring
(Figure 4). Bones were kept under cool, humid conditions at the AAS-ASU
station laboratory to prevent mold growth and cracking. The Chemistry Department
at ASU kindly provided us with some de-ionized water to treat the bones to
prevent mold growth while they were slowly drying in the lab.
With
help from archeologist Dr. Henry Wright
(University of Michigan-Ann Arbor), I applied
for funding from the
National Geographic Committee for Research and Exploration
who awarded emergency funding to the project. A team of researchers was
assembled to study various aspects of the site and a civil engineer was sought
to assist in making the excavation safe. Mr. Dan Mulhollen of Mulhollen and
Associates in Jonesboro, Arkansas was contacted at the suggestion of Dr.
Charlotte Jones, former director of the ASU Museum. Mr. Mulhollen's engineering
firm surveyed the King Mastodon site and provided significant assistance with
the excavation design. In September, Mr. Mulhollen and I met with Judge Dale
Haas to ask for assistance from Craighead County Road Department. Several weeks
later, they approached the Quorum Court with their request for assistance. The
Honorable Dale Haas and the Craighead County Quorum Court approved of the County
Highway Department's involvement in the King Mastodon Excavation Project. The
Department of
Arkansas Heritage provided travel expenses to bring consulting
scientists Dr. Stephen Jackson and Dr. Roger Saucier to the site during the
excavation project.
With
funding secured, extensive preparations for the King Mastodon Excavation Project
began. Equipment was assembled and volunteers were called. The site needed to be
"dewatered" in order to safely retrieve the bones from the bottom of the ditch
and beneath the overburden of the extant cutbank. Two levees and a water
diversion system were expertly built by the Craighead County Highway Department
(Figure 5). After extensive earthmoving,
the water diversion system was completed by the highway team
(Figure 6). On Sept 29th, during the dirt
work prior to the excavation, a right humerus (forelimb bone) of the King
Mastodon was encountered by County Highway worker Horace Thompson during track
hoe excavation. This find helped the archeological team know precisely where to
shore-up the excavation area at the bottom of the ditch with steel fenceposts
and ¾" plywood (Figure 7).
Additional
pumps and water-screening systems were configured on Friday, October 1 and the
first full day of excavation was Saturday, October 2nd
(Figure 8).
Arkansas Archeological Society members from all across Arkansas and
other states assisted ASU personnel with the digging and screening of sediment
from the King Mastodon site (Figure 9).
Several mastodon bone and tusk fragments were found during the first weekend.
With the help of over 70 volunteers (Figure
10) including many Arkansas Archeological Society members, crew chiefs Mike
Evans and Jared Pebworth (Figure 11) of
the Arkansas Archeological Survey and AAS Station Assistants—Larry Porter,
Milton Hughes, and Marion Haynes—kept the site excavation going until October
14th (Figure 12).
We
were also fortunate to have three prominent scholars of late Pleistocene (ice
age) studies participate in various aspects of the research at the King Mastodon
site. Stephen Jackson, paleobotanist from the
University of Wyoming assisted in recovery of
plant remains from the gray clay beneath the mastodon bones
(Figure 13). Dr. Roger Saucier oversaw
the Center for
Earthquake Research and Information (CERI) personnel extracting
sediment samples with their Giddings core rig
(Figure 14). Radiocarbon expert, Dr. Tom
Stafford also visited during the excavation project
(Figure 15).
One of the highlights of the excavation project was the day that National
Geographic photographer Kenneth Garrett visited us
(Figure 16). As luck would have it, we
recovered the nearly intact lower jaw of the King as well as a tusk fragment,
numerous complete vertebra and ribs, and a proximal ulna (lower forelimb). A
picture of our crew excavating the King's lower jaw was published in the April
2000 issue of the
National Geographic magazine. Our excavations
penetrated about three feet below the water level in Little Bay Ditch.
During
his site visit, Dr. Tom Stafford of Stafford Research Laboratories in Boulder,
Colorado extracted a sample of dentine from one of the teeth in order to get an
accurate date for the King Mastodon (Figure
17). He conducted radiocarbon analysis on small portions of two different
teeth. Both radiocarbon dates indicate an uncalibrated age of about 12,000
years. No evidence of human association could be determined from the remains or
the context. The geological context of the mastodon bones was reworked sandy
alluvium-as evidenced by a 1920's lipstick case, Asian clams, and an 8-track
cassette tape. And for the die-hard pre-Clovis advocates, no wishbone shaped
structures or human footprints were observed either. We managed to retrieve
approximately 50 percent of the elements of the King mastodon. Because the
majority bones were so tightly concentrated and are relatively complete,
well-preserved, and have little abrasion, it is unlikely that they were
transported very far.
Several
possible hypotheses could account for why we encountered only a portion of the
mastodon skeleton. Only a portion of the mastodon carcass may have been quickly
buried by sediment and the portion that did not get buried may have decayed or
been utilized by humans or animals. Some bones of the King Mastodon may have
been located outside of our excavation limits. Some bones and bone fragments may
have been encountered by past ditch dredging and could lie in previous spoil
piles along the edges of the ditch or were partially dredged up.
The King Mastodon Project
was an unqualified success because we were able to 1.) recover so many more
elements of the mastodon, 2.) greatly raise the awareness of archeology on a
local and regional level, and 3.) bring together volunteers, scholars, and
community leaders to achieve a common goal---to preserve the past for the
future. We are in the process of cleaning, analyzing, photographing, and
measuring bones, and preserving them with special chemicals. Based on the degree
of wear on his teeth, we know the King was between 20 and 30 years old when he
died. We also know that he lost his left tusk at least several years before he
died, but there are many things we have yet to discover about this amazing late
ice age animal. After our studies are completed, the King Mastodon will be
curated in the Arkansas State University Museum. We hope the King will
eventually be exhibited at the museum.
We
owe the success of this project to many individuals and organizations, including
Mr. Joey Smith, Mr. George King, Mr. Charles Frierson, the National Geographic
Society, Craighead County Judge Dale Haas, the Craighead County Quorum Court,
the Craighead County Highway Department
(Figure 18), the Department of Arkansas Heritage, the Arkansas Archeological
Society, Mr. Steve Cox and Mr. Jim Moore, and Mr. Jim Spurlock (landowers), Dr.
Charlotte Jones, Mr. Dan Mulhollen, Dr. Arch Johnston and the Center for
Earthquake Research and Information, Betty Grant and Sylvia Scheibel who
administered finances, Mr. Billy Forrest, and Mr. Bill Jordan and the many
volunteers who generously devoted their time to the project. In accordance with
an agreement with the landowner, the Craighead County Highway Department
graciously put the site back to its original configuration after we completed
the excavations. I thank Mary Farmer for all her help and for sending me copies
of slides she took during the project. The project would not have even been
possible without the assistance of the County. Dr. Roger Saucier died, suddenly,
a short time after his visit to the King Mastodon site. Inarguably one of the
most important geologists of the 20th century, Roger Saucier devoted much of his
long and illustrious career to geological investigations that have greatly aided
archeology. This project is dedicated to his memory.
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©1995, Arkansas Archeological Survey, Revised - May 30, 2000
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