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Mastodon Camp Digs Up More Than Bones

Digging up the remains of a 11,500-year-old mastodon uncovered more than a bunch of bones for high school students who participated in “Mastodon Camp!,” an excavation project run by The Field Museum and the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County.

“This is more than digging a skeleton out of the ground. For that creature to be here in this part of Illinois paints an entirely different picture of what the flora and fauna were like, and it puts this all into context of the greater time span,” said Tom Pray, education outreach manager for the district.

For the program, 23 students and 12 teachers from schools in the surrounding Chicago suburbs joined experts at Pratt’s Wayne Woods Forest Preserve from August 2 through 17 to excavate the remains of the mastodon, first discovered in August 2005 during the restoration of the area’s wetlands.

Experts such as paleontologist Richard Kissel of The Field Museum walked through the mud to help the teams of students and teachers differentiate between trash and treasure found in their two-by-two-foot excavations. While some teams found more than others, all were excited to simply take part in the process.

“When they first opened the ground, they found something within the first ten centimeters of the dig,” said district naturalist Jack MacRae. “It’s instant gratification.”

“We’re finding lots of chert,” said Erin Murphy, a St. Charles North freshman, while she cleaned the dirt off the tiny rust-colored rock in her hand. Murphy explained that the chert rock was used to make Clovis points—arrowheads—for hunting. “It’s cool to see the marks on bones where humans scraped the meat off with tools.”

The mastodon remains found at the excavation paint a detailed picture of the Illinois landscape 11,000 years ago. This species, which lived between 1.6 million and 11,000 years ago, was found on the edge of a lake deposit most likely formed by a receding glacier. The Illinois State Geological Survey has also pulled out soil cores and pollen samples from the lake deposit to determine the timeline of vegetation at this site.

The big picture of the “Mastodon Camp!” program focuses on the significant landscape changes that have happened over time and the impacts that people are making today. “We look at the restoration and see the row of houses that border the site on the horizon. We see jets flying overhead and look at the impacts we’re making today,” said Pray, motioning across the skyline. “Through this hook, we get people to tie into the landscape and start seeing how they’re playing a part in this.”

— Katie Chelminski