Island 35 Mastodon Island 35 Mastodon The Island 35 Mastodon was discovered on Island No. 35 of the Mississippi River in Tipton County, Tennessee, United States. In 1900, a Pleistocene mastodon skeleton was excavated approximately east of Reverie, Tennessee and southeast of Wilson, Arkansas. In 1957 the site was reported as destroyed. Mastodons are members of the prehistoric, extinct genus "Mammut". They resemble modern elephants. Native to North America, they are said to have lived on the North American continent from almost 4 million years ago, in the Pliocene Epoch, until their eventual disappearance about 10,000 years ago. In 1900, archaeologist James K.
Manis Mastodon Site tests dated the Manis site at 13,800 years old. Since the 1950s, archaeologists have believed the Clovis people were the first human inhabitants of North America and that they lived here 13,000 years ago. However the discovery of sites pre-dating Clovis, such as Monte Verde in Chile and Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Pennsylvania, have been challenging this presumption at least since the 1990s. The Manis Mastodon Site is 800 years older than the Clovis people. This site, among others, is helping to change the long-held beliefs of many archaeologists about the earliest human inhabitants of North America. The Manis Mastodon Site