RADIOCARBON DATING THE CORNELIUS MASTODON OF SALTILLO, HUNTINGDON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

In 1935, a trench-digging crew under the employment of C.R. Cornelius accidentally uncovered the remains of a mastodon (Mammut americanum) in a spring seep near Saltillo, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. The tusks and teeth are archived at the Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum, Pennsylvania State University. In 2019, collagen from the broken root of the upper third molar yielded a radiocarbon date of 11,300 ± 60 year BP (calibrated 11,341 BC to 11,126 BC). Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to analyze the extracted collagen to ensure shellac preservatives placed on the exterior of the tooth had not contaminated the internal dentin which will alter the radiocarbon date. Samples from the shellac tooth surface, extracted collagen, and the ultrafilter extracted collagen were analyzed and compared to modern caribou collagen. Both of the mastodon collagen samples matched well with the modern-caribou collagen suggesting no shellac contamination. Hence, the collagen date is an accurate determination of the geologic age of the bones. The radiocarbon age not only dates the deposits from the Saltillo site, but it provides one of the youngest dates for the American Mastodon that went extinct at the end of the Pleistocene.