Sometimes it feels like we know everything there is to know about the world. But then scientists make a breakthrough: we see gravitational waves for the first time, as we did in 2017. We learn giant squids are, in fact, real (even that took ’til 2004). In the past decade we even learned how to modify our own genes.
Understanding ourselves and the past is not a task limited to the experts, however; a 12 year-old boy playing in an Amish-country river — not an academic or scientist — made a discovery that was truly novel. While he didn’t split the atom, he gave archaeologists a chance to glimpse into the past.
The find was made on a Hepner family vacation. Twelve-year-old Jackson and the rest of his clan had set off to Millersburg, Ohio, an area located in Amish country, where they had a particularly magical place to stay.
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Facebook – Josh Hepner
There, one of Jackson’s relatives, Jason Nies, was an innkeeper at Honey Inn in Millersville. The family was elated to partake in the peaceful country activities: admiring the gardens, playing with farm animals, and exploring the forest.
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WGME
And this latter activity led to Jackson’s unbelievable discovery. While strolling, the Hepners happened upon a bridge running over a river. A view so picturesque only meant one thing for the family: time for a family photo-op.
Trip Advisor
Once the photo was taken, the Hepners settled down to enjoy the beautiful place they’d already become comfortable with. An energized Jackson, always appreciative of nature and the outdoors, ran off explore the river below.
Bohm Law Group
Suddenly, in the midst of his surveying, the 12 year-old stumbled upon a strange sight: Something was submerged in the river. This was no rock — or at least not any rock he’d ever seen. He took a closer look.
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Upon further inspection, Jackson Hepner was completely stunned. With suspicions running through his mind, he quickly dug the bizarre-looking item from its hiding place and ran back to show his family the exciting find.
Flickr – Anna Erstad
And his family was the perfect audience. As inkeeper Jason Nies put it, Jackon’s “dad and his uncle are both really into natural history and understanding nature. They quickly jumped online and were Googling it.” What was this thing?
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CNN
After doing extensive online research with his family, the Hepners came to an astonishing conclusion: what Jackson had found definitely wasn’t a rock — it was a tooth! Massive and fragmented, the tooth, research revealed, clearly belonged to one of two creatures.
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Facebook – Inn At Honey Run
The first option? The tooth was from a long-dead mastodon, an extinct elephant-like species that lived in North America as recently as ten thousand years ago. The other option excited the Hepners, too.
Flickr – quinet
Was it a mammoth tooth? While mammoths and mastodon were similar, the former was the larger of the two. They could grow to be as tall as fifteen feet, weighed six tons, and used their ridged teeth for grinding up hard-to-chew seeds and leaves. The Hepners wanted answers.
Deccan Herald
Needing clarification about just what exactly the giant tooth really belonged to, the Hepners reached out to expert geologist Dale Gnidovec. They anxiously waited for a response.
Kevin Park – This Week News
Finally, after weeks of anticipation, the archaeologists got back to the Hepners with the jaw-dropping truth: Jackson’s discovery was indeed from a mammoth! The boy couldn’t believe he had found a relic from such a fascinating Ice Age-era animal. But there was a problem.
Daily Mail
Of course, Jackson was elated about the find and couldn’t wait to share the discovery with everyone he knew. Unfortunately, he didn’t actually have the tooth any longer. He had an idea how to fix that issue.
Because the scientists who had tested the tooth were still in possession of it, he wrote a letter. “I would like to have my tooth back in my hands as soon as possible,” he explained. “I want to show my friends.”
Facebook – The Inn At Honey Run
While Jackson waited for answers, the Honey Inn posted on its blog, “We’re thrilled to be the site of a unique and special find that proves there could be some hidden treasures among the rolling hills of Ohio’s Amish Country still waiting to be uncovered.”
Trip Advisor
Jason Nies also had something to add: “It’s just a neat find. It’s not every day you get to touch and feel and see a mammoth tooth!” Well said, Jason. The whole family couldn’t wait to share all they’d learned about mammoths.
NPR
Interestingly enough, rather than a patriarchal society, these great beasts would follow the oldest female of the group, allowing her to lead and make decisions. In fact, lack of a female would put the male mammoths in grave danger. He hoped he’d found a mammoth tooth.
Mammoth teeth, he learned, weren’t the only attention-grabbing thing about mammoths. They had tusks as long as 14-feet that they used to fight, dig, and find mates. Tusks can also be used to determined a mammoth’s age.
National Geographic
Astoundingly, research has shown that mammoths lived an average of seventy years—that’s close to a human’s life expectancy! However they did differ from humans in one crucial way that has taken experts aback.
Hulton Archive
While woollies were known to eat the likes of buttercups and aquatic shrubs, they unfortunately were prime prey to several different animals. That was just the luck of the draw for those big, meaty herbivores.
Ice Age: Collision Course
And while people were known to snack on these gentle giants, it was once thought to be a mild, pacifistic feast of sorts. What does that mean? Were they friends and food?
Smithsonian Magazine
Well, it was originally believed that humans would wait for mammoths to be maimed or deceased, or scared them into mucky swamps, before devouring them. Overall, the human-mammoth accord wasn’t thought to be a violent one involving gore and bloodshed.
