Find of the Hyde Park Mastodon

In 1999 the owners of this house wanted to enlarge the pond in their back yard and at the beginning a humerus (upper forelimb) was found.

In 2000 excavating began by emptying the pond and the bones of a a Mastodon came to light. A radiocarbon test dated it to be 11,500 years old.

The Mastodon is on display at the Museum of the Earth in nearby Ithaca and was featured on the Discovery Channel.