Relique du Madde
Adventurer
I'm kind of amazed that this mastodon's tusk wasn't discovered or snatched up along time ago.
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Rockhound finds Ice Age tusk in Perris flood channel
06:53 AM PST on Wednesday, January 21, 2009
By JULISSA McKINNON
The Press-Enterprise
What started as an afternoon of rockhounding in the riverbed behind his Perris home ended with Greg Riecke discovering a tusk that experts say likely dates back to the last Ice Age -- 16,000 to 2 million years ago.
Upon inspection, an archaeologist and paleontologist from a Hemet museum believe the 4-foot long tusk belonged to either a mammoth or a mastodon, two extinct ancestors of the modern-day elephant.
Riecke, a part-time plumber who regularly combs the flood channel for gold with a metal detector, said in the past he has found oyster shells, coral and what he believes might be a dinosaur or shark tooth.
But he said the ancient tusk and a nearby tusk tip that he unearthed Monday is by far "the biggest thing I've ever found."
"I get bored and come back here and scoot around," said Riecke, who describes himself as a geologist at heart. "I find glass and trash, but every once in a while you find something that was a piece of the environment thousands and thousands of years ago."
The fate of the fossil lies in the hands of the Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, which owns the drainage channel that stretches from Moreno Valley to Perris, where it empties into the San Jacinto River.
Steve Stump, the district's chief of operations and maintenance, said although the county would likely be in favor of studying the fossils, he needs to check with county attorneys to determine the district's responsibility.
In his 30 years with the flood control district, Stump said he has never heard of a fossil surfacing in a drainage ditch.
After Riecke and a few neighbors worried about rain forecast for Thursday damaging the fossils, they covered the tusk and tusk tip with the same dirt Riecke had removed earlier using spoons and his hands.
Two scientists from the Western Center for Archaeology and Paleontology said either their museum or another organization will likely be interested in surveying the surrounding area for other bones from the same animal and other skeletons.
"To a certain extent it's cost versus benefit to figure out the best spots to target," said Doug John, a paleontologist who visited the riverbed bones within hours after the Western Center received a call from Riecke's boss and landlord, Patrick Bellows.
John said mastodons and mammoths were among dozens of mammals that roamed the Inland valleys during the Pleistocene period, just before the arrival of humans.
Other resident beasts could have included lions, camelops (ancestors of modern-day camels, llamas and alpacas), bears and sloths.
"Camels and horses were the major large mammals," John said. "You would have seen herds of wild camels and horses and a few odd mastodons and mammoths."
He and archaeologist Darlene Harr said scientists would need to see teeth from the specimen whose tusks were found to determine whether it was a mastodon or a mammoth.
Apparently, both animals were grazers, but mastodons had more teeth with more cusps that helped them eat twigs and leaves whereas mammoths dined mainly on grass, Harr said.
Mammoths had more hair and were more closely related to modern-day elephants, John said.
"Mastodons were a little smaller and stockier, about the size of today's Asian elephant," John said.
John and Harr said the last find of intact fossils they recall dates back to 1999 when thousands of prehistoric skeletons turned up during the excavation for the Diamond Valley Lake Reservoir.
Riecke said he is certain that there are more fossils waiting to be found in his beloved wash.
"I think I know of another dinosaur right over there," he said, with a vague wave downstream.
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Rockhound finds Ice Age tusk in Perris flood channel
06:53 AM PST on Wednesday, January 21, 2009
By JULISSA McKINNON
The Press-Enterprise
What started as an afternoon of rockhounding in the riverbed behind his Perris home ended with Greg Riecke discovering a tusk that experts say likely dates back to the last Ice Age -- 16,000 to 2 million years ago.
Upon inspection, an archaeologist and paleontologist from a Hemet museum believe the 4-foot long tusk belonged to either a mammoth or a mastodon, two extinct ancestors of the modern-day elephant.
Riecke, a part-time plumber who regularly combs the flood channel for gold with a metal detector, said in the past he has found oyster shells, coral and what he believes might be a dinosaur or shark tooth.
But he said the ancient tusk and a nearby tusk tip that he unearthed Monday is by far "the biggest thing I've ever found."
"I get bored and come back here and scoot around," said Riecke, who describes himself as a geologist at heart. "I find glass and trash, but every once in a while you find something that was a piece of the environment thousands and thousands of years ago."
The fate of the fossil lies in the hands of the Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, which owns the drainage channel that stretches from Moreno Valley to Perris, where it empties into the San Jacinto River.
Steve Stump, the district's chief of operations and maintenance, said although the county would likely be in favor of studying the fossils, he needs to check with county attorneys to determine the district's responsibility.
In his 30 years with the flood control district, Stump said he has never heard of a fossil surfacing in a drainage ditch.
After Riecke and a few neighbors worried about rain forecast for Thursday damaging the fossils, they covered the tusk and tusk tip with the same dirt Riecke had removed earlier using spoons and his hands.
Two scientists from the Western Center for Archaeology and Paleontology said either their museum or another organization will likely be interested in surveying the surrounding area for other bones from the same animal and other skeletons.
"To a certain extent it's cost versus benefit to figure out the best spots to target," said Doug John, a paleontologist who visited the riverbed bones within hours after the Western Center received a call from Riecke's boss and landlord, Patrick Bellows.
John said mastodons and mammoths were among dozens of mammals that roamed the Inland valleys during the Pleistocene period, just before the arrival of humans.
Other resident beasts could have included lions, camelops (ancestors of modern-day camels, llamas and alpacas), bears and sloths.
"Camels and horses were the major large mammals," John said. "You would have seen herds of wild camels and horses and a few odd mastodons and mammoths."
He and archaeologist Darlene Harr said scientists would need to see teeth from the specimen whose tusks were found to determine whether it was a mastodon or a mammoth.
Apparently, both animals were grazers, but mastodons had more teeth with more cusps that helped them eat twigs and leaves whereas mammoths dined mainly on grass, Harr said.
Mammoths had more hair and were more closely related to modern-day elephants, John said.
"Mastodons were a little smaller and stockier, about the size of today's Asian elephant," John said.
John and Harr said the last find of intact fossils they recall dates back to 1999 when thousands of prehistoric skeletons turned up during the excavation for the Diamond Valley Lake Reservoir.
Riecke said he is certain that there are more fossils waiting to be found in his beloved wash.
"I think I know of another dinosaur right over there," he said, with a vague wave downstream.
