Farmer discovers 'butchered' woolly mammoth under soy field

It wasn't a bent fence post James Bristle of Lima Township, Michigan, found in a soy field with his friend, although at first that's what it looked like. "We knew it was something that was out of the norm," Bristle said — and it turns out he was right. It was the rib bone of a woolly mammoth.

Bristle, who reported the find to University of Michigan professor Daniel Fisher, could only spend a day working on the excavation of the bones, The Washington Post reports. That meant things had to be kicked into high gear, with Fisher and his team doing a hasty investigation while also taking care to document the bones, which make up nearly a complete skeleton, and to understand the site to the best of their ability.

They've already reached a couple of conclusions: Fisher believes the mammoth died sometime between 11,000 and 15,000 years ago. Dating the bones might push back scientist's understanding of when humans were active in the region, Fisher said, because of the numerous signs that the body was "butchered." He hypothesizes that the carcass was placed in a pond, as he's seen at other dig sites, to store the meat. Additional evidence that people meddled with the body include the discovery of a possible fragment of a stone tool as well as three boulders found near the head that might have been used as anchors.

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Watch the excavation below. Jeva Lange