We’ve all seen those ancient paintings on the walls of caves in Europe. The sometimes crude artistic works, possibly created by folks after they drank some brew out of the skull of an enemy, depict woolly mammoths and herds of other Ice Age-era animals.
Think about this. Have you ever seen such a rendering found here in the United States or Canada or anywhere else in the Western Hemisphere?
Nope, not until this week. In Vero Beach, Florida, amateur fossil collector James Kennedy discovered a piece of bone depicted above with an image of a mastodon or mammoth etched into it. He actually had the 15-inch-long bone for a few years before he cleaned it enough to make out the giant beast upon it. There’s no proof that the ancient beast carved into the bone is in any way kin to the woolly mammoth which will likely be cloned in the next few years.
Once Kennedy realized it was more than just a fossilized bone fragment, he still didn’t think he had a grand find, not realizing there were no such depictions discovered anywhere in the West. Experts at the University of Florida and the Smithsonian have studied the piece and said it is the real deal, not a fake.
Even though any museum, including the Smithsonian, would love to have the piece in their permanent collection, Kennedy is going to earn some big bucks by putting the relic up for auction.
