An avid artifact and fossil collector recently came across a stunning discovery before alerting the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ).
Eddie Templeton found a portion of an Ice Age-era, Columbian mammoth tusk exposed in a steep embankment while exploring in Madison County.
DEQ’s Mississippi State Geological Survey scientists worked with the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science to properly excavate and stabilize the tusk.
Templeton and the team spent an entire day cleaning the tusk to expose the 7-foot-long ivory fossil.
“It was suspected based on the strong curvature of the massive tusk that Eddie and the team were dealing with a Columbian mammoth and not that of the more common mastodon. This would be the first of its kind for the area,” said a MDEQ press release.
“This would have been just before it was completely covered with alluvium entombing the fossil, possibly the result of a storm resulting in a major flooding event,” said the release.
It was concluded the animal likely had died nearby, and its remains were then carried along the stream’s channel.
“Eddie’s discovery offers a rare window into the Columbian mammoths that once roamed Madison County along the Jackson Prairie of central Mississippi,” said the release.
Fox News Digital reached out to the MDEQ and Eddie Templeton for additional comment.
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