Let’s take another look at last week’s fossil, this time with its original specimen card.
I may be geeking out a little, but check out that card! This specimen was collected more than a hundred years ago, and there are plenty of details on this card that I think are interesting. For one thing, the card clearly predates the University of Iowa/ Iowa State University split. For college football fans, this is an important historical relic. For those of you following this blog who are interested in the history of science, there is some potentially even more exciting information.
Check out the species name on the card: Elephus primigenius. This is the old scientific name for the wooly mammoth. The wooly mammoth now goes by Mammuthus primignius, but from the location this specimen was collected, it’s quite probable this is actually the molar of a Columbian mammoth: Mammuthus columbi.
Older specimens like this tooth are interesting as cultural artifacts. They remind us that science isn’t something set in stone—that science involves constant interpretation and analysis based on new evidence. As we learn more and more about the ancient world, our picture of it continues to develop. I imagine that the person who filled out this original specimen card would have been very excited to find out how much more we have learned about mammoths in the last century; how much richer our picture is of life when this tooth was intact. And for those of you who are interested, here's an intact tooth for comparison:
The winner this week? Nobody! But we had fun—thanks for playing! If you have a fossil you want to share, send your pictures to me at schoerning at ncse.com. And if you need another fossil fix, check out the UIowa Palentology Repository, who we thank for this week's fossil!
