“A woolly mammoth is being dug up at the Bristle farm near you. Could you get pictures and details?”
That was the question I got the morning of October 1 from Lisa Allmendinger, the journalist who runs our local news website Chelsea Update. How do you say no to a startling — and likely once in a lifetime — question like that? You don’t! I certainly didn’t.
The story is widely known by now, but here’s the brief overview: Jim Bristle and Trent Satterthwaite were digging in a field when they found an odd object they first thought was an old fence post. When they realized they were finding something a bit unusual, they made a call that brought Daniel Fisher from the University of Michigan to the farm. They started to excavate the mammoth, and when Lisa got word of the dig, I got the irresistible inquiry that took me to the Bristle farm.
Before we get into the photos, here are links to all the Chelsea Update stories on the mammoth:
Possible Woolly Mammoth found on Lima Township farm
Woolly Mammoth photo gallery by Burrill Strong
Not a usual Sunday afternoon for Lima Township farmers who found Woolly Mammoth bones
Lima Township farmers spend Sunday afternoon talking about Woolly Mammoth
Woolly Mammoth artifacts cleaned before they head to U-M Museum of Paleontology
A few of my photos also appeared in the Daily Mail.
Okay, on to the full set of photos!
The skull was just becoming visible early in the afternoon.
At that moment they were taking a photo; the sticks are there to provide scale.
As they were working to uncover the skull, they were also recovering a number of other bones.
