Ice Age discoveries reveal new details on mastodons and prehistoric art

Recent archaeological findings have provided new insights into the Ice Age. In northern California, a fossilized tooth belonging to a Pacific mastodon was discovered in a creek in San Mateo County. The specimen, which includes an intact crown and root, was found by geomorphologist Brigid Lynch during a habitat restoration project. The tooth has been donated to Stanford University, where researchers intend to determine its age and create a 3D model for educational purposes.

In Ukraine, researchers have analyzed 18,000-year-old female figurines carved from mammoth ivory. Using high-resolution microscopic analysis and 3D digital modeling, a team from the UK, Germany, Norway, and Ukraine discovered that Ice Age craftspeople mimicked the natural growth patterns, known as Schreger and Owen lines, found in mammoth tusks. These findings, published in the journal Heritage Science, suggest that Paleolithic peoples deeply integrated the natural characteristics of mammoth ivory into their artistic traditions. Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, digital scanning was utilized to preserve these artifacts for future study.