THE LASSITER'S CORNER MASTODON FROM TENNESSEE

Fossil skeletal remains of what is identified as the skull of a mastodon were found in 1964 by a bulldozer operator in the gravel pit near Reelfoot Lake in western Tennessee. Professors and students from the University of Tennessee at Martin excavated another tooth and other bone fragments, including part of the jaw bone. The remains occurred after about sixty feet of loess had been removed which places the find at the contact between the Peoria Loess and the underyling gravel unit, which corresponds to the early Wisconsinan of the Pleistocene. Unfortunately, local residents looted the site prior to all excavations being completed and the UT Martin specimens were subsequently misplaced. Now, nearly forty years later, several of the mastodon fossils have been recovered and prepared. In cleaning the jawbone fragment, several odd holes were found that suggest the animal had a pathological condition. The same holes occur in the tooth. Wear on the tooth suggests that the individual was old and perhaps diseased.