Mammoth Tusk Discovered in Madison County Fully Intact

MADISON COUNTY, Miss. – Earlier this month, Eddie Templeton, an avid artifact and fossil collector, discovered a fully intact tusk while exploring rural areas in search of fossils. Templeton stumbled upon what appeared to be a portion of an Ice Age mammoth tusk exposed in a steep embankment.

Reports indicate that the excavation team found the fossil tusk in remarkable condition, partially exposed just above the water under a bluff in the alluvium of a small drainage. The tusk’s strong curvature led experts to suspect it belonged to a Columbian mammoth rather than the more common mastodon. This would be the first such find in the area.

At the laboratory, a paleontologist from the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science confirmed that the fossil tusk indeed belonged to a Columbian mammoth. Templeton’s discovery provides a rare glimpse into the Columbian mammoths that once roamed Madison County along the Jackson Prairie of central Mississippi.

Columbian mammoths were much larger than the infamous woolly mammoth that roamed the colder, more northern regions of North America. They grew up to 15 feet at the shoulder and could weigh over 10 tons.

This ice-age prairie ecosystem of what is now Madison County was also home to herds of now extinct species. That includes horses and giant bison along with giant ground sloths, giant tortoises, and tapirs. It was also home to a number of ice age predators such as dire wolves, saber toothed cats, American lion, and even to the earliest human inhabitants of our region. 

Ancient Elephants

Mississippi was home to three Elephant ancestors during the last ice age: Mastodon, Gomphothere, and the Columbian mammoth.

Mastodons are by far the most common Elephant ancestor finds in Mississippi. Like modern deer, they were browsers, and inhabited a variety of different environments.

The Columbian mammoths are far less common finds in Mississippi, who were open grassland grazers. They would have been at home in only a select few environments, particularly the prairie regions of Mississippi.

Gomphothere are more closely related to mastodon than to mammoths. Very little is known about their ice-age presence here in Mississippi. They are only known from a few isolated teeth found along the Mississippi River. All three possessed ivory tusks.