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Paleontologists discover giant mammoth bones dating back to the Ice Age
Jason Howley has made a rare discovery in northwestern Missouri that shows evidence of a prehistoric butcher shop.
“Discoveries of this magnitude are rare and present an important opportunity for scientific documentation, imaging, and preservation,” Howley wrote on the GoFundMe page.
A paleontologist in Missouri has literally made a huge discovery.
Jason Howley, an independent paleontologist based outside Kansas City, Missouri, is no stranger to exploring and discovering Ice Age ruins. Fox 4 KC Reported. During his 20-year career, Howley has discovered giant deer, horses, and bison dating back to prehistoric times.
Recently, in Nodaway County, Howley discovered the largest Ice Age find ever. It was a huge mammoth bone, probably an animal’s femur. fox 2.
Jason Howley, Storyful
“When I first got there, that was the first thing I saw, and I looked down and there it was, and I thought, ‘No way,'” Howley told FOX 4 KC.
Howley, who has been searching for Ice Age remains for 20 years, told the outlet that he was able to tell the difference between Ice Age bones fairly quickly. “Ice Age bones have a unique texture that is unlike any other bone in the world. When you touch them, they have a sticky, glass-like texture,” he said. “So, the moment my hand touched it, I thought, “I know what this feels like.”
Footage taken at the time of the discovery showed Howley pulling the huge bone out of what appeared to be a large pond and then lifting it up to his chest. The bones were more than half the paleontologist’s height and appear to have been thicker than an adult thigh.
Jason Howley, Storyful
Nodaway County, Missouri has an especially rich prehistoric past. Research has shown that Ice Age humans kept butcher sites (one of about 50 known in North America) in the area, which could be related in part to Howley’s findings, Howley told FOX 4 KC.
Howley leads the Paleo Outreach Program, an effort focused on documenting and sharing the region’s Ice Age history and inspiring young people to explore the field. Paleontologists are gofundme This page is intended to assist you in conducting a proper scientific analysis of the latest discoveries in mammoth bones.
“Discoveries of this scale are rare and present an important opportunity for scientific documentation, imaging, and preservation,” he wrote in the post’s caption. “Proper analysis will help us carefully record valuable information about Ice Age ecosystems and early human activities and make it available for future research.”
PEOPLE has reached out to Howley for comment.
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Howley told FOX 4 KC that the fulfillment he gets from his work is less about making discoveries and more about the journey of exploration.
“There are so many possibilities, but we don’t know what will happen. We don’t always find something, but we find peace, right?”
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