Island 35 Mastodon

Island 35 Mastodon
Femur fragment of the Island 35 Mastodon at Hampson Museum State Park
Common nameIsland 35 Mastodon
SpeciesMastodon
Age2 million years
Place discoveredTennessee, United States
Date discovered1900
Discovered byJames Hampson
Mastodons roamed North America until about 10,000 years ago (Painting by Heinrich Harder ca. 1920)

The Island 35 Mastodon was discovered on Island No. 35 of the Mississippi River in Tipton County, Tennessee, United States.

In 1900, a Pleistocene mastodon skeleton was excavated approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Reverie, Tennessee and 4 miles (6.4 km) southeast of Wilson, Arkansas. In 1957, the site was reported as destroyed.[1]

Drawing of a mastodon skeleton by Rembrandt Peale

Mastodons are members of the prehistoric, extinct genus Mammut. They resemble modern elephants.

Native to North America, they are said to have lived on the North American continent from almost 4 million years ago, in the Pliocene Epoch, until their eventual disappearance about 10,000 years ago.[2]

  1. ^ Williams, Steven (Apr 1957). "The Island 35 Mastodon: Its Bearing on the Age of Archaic Cultures in the East". American Antiquity. 22 (4): 359–372. doi:10.2307/276134. JSTOR 276134.
  2. ^ "Greek mastodon find 'spectacular'". BBC News. 24 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-24.