364 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT
the
main broken up, they were somewhat widely separated. This may have been
due, in the opinion of Professor Felix, to the action of some stream
which may have traversed the pool or body of standing water in which
the mammoth is supposed to have come to grief.*
The
finding of the skeleton of an American mastodon in Connecticut is not
only highly important in itself, but the position and surroundings of
the remains have suggested some very interesting conjectures as to the
possible coexistence of man and mastodon in this part of North America
in post-glacial times.f This find was made in August, 1913, on the
estate of the late A. A. Pope, at Farm-ington, in the course of
excavations made for the draining of a bit of swamp land. The Italian
workman who first came across the skeleton announced his discovery to
the superintendent with the words that he had found "a black devil" in
the bog. The remains were removed with the greatest possible care,
although unfortunately the skull had been somewhat damaged by the
workman before he became aware of what it was. Almost all the essential
parts of the skeleton were present, and one of the tusks was recovered
at some distance from the other remains. The bones were somewhat
scattered, and lay on light-blue boulder clay, a glacial ground
moraine deposited during Wisconsin time. It is not believed that the
animal lost its life from having become entangled in the bog, but that
it died a natural death; the appearance of the bones indicates that the
skeleton must have soon become buried by the enveloping clay. It has
been estimated that a few hundred years would cover the time required
for the clay to be washed into the depression, and the fact that the
skeleton must
"Johannes Felix, "Das mammuth von Borna," Leipzig, 1912.
tSee Charles Schuchert, "Mammut Americanum in Connecticut," with note by Richard S. Lull, Am. Jour. Sc. i Ser., Vol. XXXVII, pp. 321-330, No. 220, April, 1914.
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