Dramatic way to go’: Lightning likely killed mastodon found on metro-east college campus

A mastodon found on the campus of Principia College in Elsah, Illinois, likely was killed by a lightning strike more than 27,000 years ago, according to faculty and students studying the ancient creature.

The group concluded the excavation of the mastodon skull on Thursday. Now, they’ll analyze the dig’s findings and write a research paper about the tusked animal found by accident.

“That’s something that doesn’t happen every day,” said Andrew Martin, chair of the sociology and anthropology department at Principia.

Martin has been teaching classes since the fall 2023 semester all focused on digging up the skeleton. After examining the remains, the professor and students believe a lightning strike likely killed the animal.

“It’s kind of a dramatic way to go,” Martin said. “We’re still developing that. You’re piecing together parts of the story from the bits that you find in the ground.”

The main evidence for their theory: The first foot-and-a-half tip of the tusk was completely charred. The researchers believe it’s strange the mastodon died on top of the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River.

If it had been injured or diseased, the animal would likely be closer to a water source, Martin said.

Wolves or some other carnivores likely scattered the remains after the animal’s death, which explains why bones have been found throughout the area.

“It was a nice Mastodon barbecue after the lightning strike,” Martin said.

Dubbed “Mike,” the ancient creature was named after the facilities worker — Michael Towell — who found the remains in 2022 while he was digging dirt to be used for building up some of the roads that lead onto campus. A white spot turned out to be the animal’s tusk.

At the time, it wasn’t abundantly clear if it was a mastodon or mammoth. While both are ice age-era animals, there are some differences.

Mastodons tend to be smaller and have flatter heads. Their tusks are straighter. Mammoths are generally larger, have a knob on the top of their heads and have more curved tusks.

However, it ended up being the skeleton’s teeth that gave away the answer just a couple of months ago, said Principia freshman Mayah Campagna.

“We were digging up the teeth, and we were like, ‘Oh, that’s not a mammoth — not even a little bit,’” she said.

Mammoths have flatter teeth, but this skeleton’s teeth were far more rigid and fang-like, Campagna said.

This mastodon is just one of a few significant archeological discoveries the Jersey County college has made in recent history. In 1999, students and faculty found a mammoth nicknamed “Benny” that’s now displayed at the college’s science center.

It’s a good learning experience for students of all disciplines to take a semester-long class to dip their toes into the archaeological field, Martin said.

“I’ve been referring to this guy as a dinosaur,” Campagna joked. “My professor hates it. It’s not a dinosaur.”

Campagna, a global studies and education major, said she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take the class.

“It’s cool because we can piece together what we found from the bones to make a story about Mike the mastodon and figure out what happened here some 27,000 years ago,” she said.

The next steps will entail preserving the tusk and skull. Future classes will continue digging for other buried bones. The end goal may be putting all the pieces the students and Martin can find back together and displaying Mike like Benny — and finally a research paper. In the end, the whole project will take years, Martin said.

“It’s great for the students to apply their skills and learn,” he said.