Scientists finally agree: Sequim mastodon was killed by human hunters
by ERIC WILKINSON / KING 5 News
Posted on October 21, 2011 at 6:47 PM
It took nearly 14,000 years, but the City of Sequim is finally on the map for making history ... ancient history, that is.
Manny Hatler discovered a 6-ton, 9-foot tall mastodon skeleton on his property in 1977. Over the next eight summers, the Hatler family helped scientists excavate the remains. One item they found: a spear tip.
The Hatlers were convinced that hunters had killed the mastodon, but scientists insisted that humans were not hunting in the New World when the mastodon on their farm died.
Thirty-four years later, the prestigious journal Science published a study Thursday confirming that the mastodon discovered on the Hatlers' property was hunted and killed by humans some 13,800 years ago. It amounts to the first direct, scientific connection between man and mastodon, and the earliest evidence of humans living in the Pacific Northwest.
The Science article was authored by Professor Eske Willerslev’s team from the Centre for GeoGenetics at the University of Copenhagen, and Michael Waters of the Center for the Study of the First Americans at Texas A&M University.
But it was Washington State University archaelogist Carl Gustafson who supported the Hatlers' "man-meets-mastodon" premise, and the family believes the Science article would not have been published without his help.
Wow, I knew there were a lot of old folks in Sequim, but not over 13,000 y/o 😉
(BTW for those not familiar with our NW pronunciations Sequim sounds like 'skwim')
a lot of Dungeness crab been killed by humans in that neighborhood too. Probably better eatin' than a mastodon, but you have to kill more of them to make a meal for the clan.
> a lot of Dungeness crab been killed by humans in that neighborhood too. Probably better eatin' than a mastodon, but you have to kill more of them to make a meal for the clan.
crab, salmon, clams & oysters. It is a good area fro seafood in general 🙂
I had the good fortune to do some work in the area in a former job, and before that even started my work in surveying as a summer aide on a State DNR crew in Port Angeles for two years.
Also spent some time on jobs in the Chesaw, Conconully, Loomis and Methow areas in your neck of the woods... Beautiful country 😀
It doesn't sound as good.
How do you eat a crab?
One bite at time.
JHolt, one of my old shipmates is traveling from Port Townsend today, crossing the North Cascades bearing a cooler full of fresh dungies. He and his son will be staying a few days here in the upper OK Valley. We'll be roaming around in the OK Highlands and the Similkameen country, Chesaw and Loomis will be on the itinerary. Weather is looking real nice--- it will be awesome up in them thar hills.
I guess the big deal is that ....
there were supposed to be no humans in the new world until 12,500 years ago. This is when the low sea levels exposed the land bridge between russia & alaska and allowed the migration of humans into the Americas.
