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Scientific Work In Progress 'Bristle Mammoth' Goes On Display At Ann Arbor Museum

Daryl Marshke/Michigan Photography
Paleontologist Dan Fisher works in the classroom to identify bones.
Credit Daryl Marshke/Michigan Photography
Cutting a sample form the Bristle Mammoth's right tusk for use in a season-of-death study.

Research on the remains of a 9-ton mammoth found in a Chelsea field over a year ago may prove that humans existed in Michigan a thousand years earlier than previously thought.

After a year of restoration work, the partial remains of the mammoth are going on display this coming weekend at the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History beginning November 5th.

Credit Daryl Marshke/Michigan Photography
Fisher uses a drill with a coring bit to extract a wine cork-size bone sample from one of the mammoth's shoulder blades. The sample was sent to an independent laboratory for radiocarbon dating.

I spoke to museum director Amy Harris.  She says the mammoth display will be given enough room for scientists to continue their research while the public can view the display.

Credit Daryl Marshke/Michigan Photography
The Bristle Mammoth's tusks are being pieced together from hundreds of fragments.

Meanwhile, U of M scientists have been given permission to return to the site where the Mammoth was first discovered in the coming weeks to look for more evidence, which may give more solid proof to their theories about the existence of humans in the state.

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— Lisa Barry is the host of All Things Considered on WEMU.  You can contact Lisa at 734.487.3363, on Twitter @LisaWEMU, or email her at lbarryma@emich.edu

Lisa Barry was a reporter, and host of All Things Considered on 89.1 WEMU.
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