Many of us have fantasies of finding buried treasure or historical artifacts...for a farmer in Chelsea, it really happened.

This historical artifact was an animal...a now-extinct woolly mammoth, a relative of the elephant, that was found in the soybean field of farmer James Bristle. According to Mlive, on Monday, September 28, 2015, James and a friend were out in the field digging in an attempt to create a lift station for a gas line. They hit something that they thought was some kind of warped, bent fence post...but it turned out to be a giant rib.

The next day, James called the University of Michigan, and on Wednesday night, UM Professor Dan Fisher arrived at the farm. He confirmed the next morning it was indeed a woolly mammoth. What makes this discovery even more interesting is that there have been only ten Michigan sites where woolly mammoth remains have been found. As for its cousin the mastodon, there have been three hundred known Michigan sites.

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The remains of the woolly mammoth - an adult male in its forties - contain the majority of the skeleton, including the parts of: a jaw, one kneecap, pelvis, ribs, shoulder blades, skull, teeth, tusk, and vertebrae, but with no sign of legs – front or rear. There was evidence of human activity, which led to the assumption that humans may have buried the remains and come back for more meat when they ran out...that could explain the missing limbs and feet.

The archaeological site has ceased and has been grown over through the past years, located on Scio Church Road, not far from the Chrysler proving grounds.

Woolly Mammoth Skeleton Found in Chelsea, 2015

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