Mammoth Etching found on Prehistoric Bone Discovered in Vero Beach FL

In-what is for me- an extraordinarily rare piece of interesting semi-local news:

Sometime in 2007, amateur fossil hunter James Kennedy found a 15 inch long prehistoric bone in an undisclosed location in North Vero Beach Fl which, upon cleaning and closer inspection in 2009,(the article did not give a specific reason why it took him so long to examine the bone) Kennedy found the fossil had actually been etched with the image of a walking mammoth or mastodon complete with tusks.

The bone has since undergone examination at the University of Florida as well as the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC and according to researchers, the bone itself as well as the etching appears to be between 12,000 and 14,000 years old, belongs to either a mastodon, mammoth, or ground sloth and the etching itself shows no sign of tampering and seems to have been made using a hard sharp item such as a stone tool or a tooth when the bone was still fresh.

When and if these findings can ultimately be authenticated, it would represent the first such discovery in all of the Western Hemisphere according to Dr. Barbara Purdy, professor of Anthropology at the University of Florida. And while the experts who have examined the item seem to agree the artifact is genuine and that no evidence of modern tampering can be found, according Dennis Stanford, who specializes in early North American archaeology at the Smithsonian:

"the institution doesn’t authenticate objects unless they are donated to the museum"

And while Kennedy says he'd rather see the item go to a museum, he still plans on holding on to the artifact in hopes of selling it at auction to the highest bidder.

-CAINE-

Source:Bradshaw Foundation via:TCpalm