Worker makes ‘once-in-a lifetime discovery’ while observing Iowa construction project
When Justin Blauwet made his “once-in-lifetime discovery” while observing an engineering firm’s construction project, he knew what it was right away.
That’s because he always had an interest in fossils and pre-historic animals, and his two young sons also have a “huge interest” in dinosaurs.
What he had found was a woolly mammoth tooth, his employer DGR Engineering said, and officials later confirmed Blauwet had successfully identified his rare find.
“I’m a ‘nerd’ like that,” he said in the company’s March 16 news release.
The engineering firm said Blauwet was “performing construction observation on a lift station project” at property owned by Northwest Iowa Community College (NCC) on Friday, March 4 when he spotted the “clearly exposed” tooth on the ground.
“This is something you don’t find on campus every day — a woolly mammoth tooth!!” NCC shared on Facebook.
DGR Engineering says employees then contacted Paleontology Repository Instructor Tiffany Adrain with the University of Iowa for confirmation.
“While discovery of mammoth remains is not uncommon in Iowa, once the bones and teeth are out in the open, they can fall apart and disappear quickly because they are not completely fossilized,” Adrain said, according to DGR. “This was a lucky find.”
The tooth weighed in at 11.2 pounds and measures 11 inches by 7 inches by 4 inches.
“This is an upper 3rd molar, probably a right,” Chris Widga, head curator at East Tennessee State University, said in the news release. “Based on the degree of wear, this animal was probably in its early 30s when it died.”
The preserved tooth has likely been in the ground for over 20,000 years, since the Last Glacial Maximum, according to the news release.
“Measures are being taken to protect the tooth from drying out too rapidly and possibly disintegrating,” DGR said.
The city of Sheldon says the tooth belongs to NCC, and the university plans to donate it to the Sheldon Prairie Museum.
“NCC already has many connections with its communities forged throughout the past half-century. When Blauwet discovered this woolly mammoth tooth, it uncovered an even deeper connection — one that now ties our campus property way back to the prehistoric era of the retreating glaciers,” said NCC President Dr. John Hartog in the release. “Since NCC is the public college for all of its communities, we are happy to display the tooth in the Sheldon Prairie Museum as a semi-permanently loaned display.
“This way, everyone from across our service area can come to the museum to see and appreciate this artifact,” he continued. “We might display it at the College for special occasions, but we will house the artifact in the Sheldon Prairie Museum.”
Sheldon Prairie Museum confirmed the tooth is “coming soon.”
Sheldon is in the northwest corner of Iowa, about 225 miles from Des Moines.
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