Farmer finds 15,000-year-old woolly mammoth remains in Michigan field

James Bristle and a friend were digging in his southern Michigan soybean field when they unearthed, a skull and two tusks, along with numerous vertebrae

James Bristle and a friend were digging in his southern Michigan soybean field when they unearthed what looked like a bent fence post, caked with mud. Instead, it was part of a pelvis from an ancient woolly mammoth that lived up to 15,000 years ago.

A team of paleontologists from the University of Michigan and an excavator recovered about 20% of the animal's skeleton this week in Washtenaw County's Lima Township. Aside from the pelvis, they found the skull and two tusks, along with numerous vertebrae, ribs and both shoulder blades.