Two Strange Objects Found At The Same Time On Opposite Sides Of The Globe

When you are a farmer, you can expect to do a lot of digging while on the job. However, these two farmers had no idea that they would stumble into something other than crop, rock, and dirt! These men come from different continents, but they got to share something special. Both of them found a relic of history from thousands of years ago. How were their findings related?

We humans think we know a lot about the world, but the truth is that there are many things we have yet to find out. Indeed, mother nature has yet to reveal everything about both the past and the present.

A Fine Christmas Morning

Jose Antonio Nievas got up early on Christmas day of 2015. This is pretty routine for the Argentinian man. He was running on Christmas spirit, so he thought it would be nice to go for a walk on his ranch.

He just passed by the stream running through the property when he noticed something out of the ordinary. What was this huge rounded stone that he found at the bank? His curiosity was piqued, so he approached it to take a closer look at the stone. Upon further inspection, he realized that this was actually no stone!

Asking For Help

After making this bizarre discovery, he tried removing the mud caked around it to take a better look at the strange object. He hoped that this would help him get an understanding of what it was.

However, it was not possible for him to simply wipe off all the mud on the object. It was then that he called Reina, his wife. Perhaps she could figure out what the object was.

Working On It Some More

Together with his wife, Jose returned to the site and tried to clean and unearth this mystery object. They took it slowly to ensure that they would not damage it. It’s a good thing they had the tools they needed.

As they went on with the excavation process, they then realized just how big this object was. After working on it as much as they could, they agreed that they needed the help of other people to solve this mystery. In the end, they hit up the police for assistance.

Everyone Heard About It

Even though Jose and Reina asked only the police to take a look at it, the news spread through the city. Soon enough, it seemed like the entire city met up by the stream to see it for themselves. However, the police and the locals could not tell what it was either.

The authorities were confused. They had no logical explanation for this object. It was a good thing that Jose brought his dog when he took them there. The pooch ended up leading them to the right direction!

An Excited Pooch

When the dog went to the riverbank and joined the crowd there, it had a reaction! He started to sniff and bark! Slowly, he moved closer to the mystery object.

For most people, the reaction he had was the first sign that it was going to be something important. After all, animals did not normally get excited over stones or plants. What could it be?

The Professional Opinion

The police took note of the way the dog reacted, so they decided it was high time they got in touch with specialists. They asked two local archaeologists to drop by.

They knew that it was important to conduct a proper scientific investigation. This meant that they had to take it to a lab. The archaeologists then organized the transport of the object so that they could do this.

Digging It Out

When the archaeologists attempted to dig it out of the riverbank, they found out that it was very heavy. They also learned that it was an egg that was made with a hard material of some sort.

In the end, the digging had to take a lot of time. The object was simply enormous! Can you imagine just how hard it must have been to take it to the lab?

Discoveries

Upon their arrival, the experts claimed that it did not come from this period. As a matter of fact, it was quite ancient.

The archaeologists had to use a microscope to gain a better understanding of the object.

What It Was

What they learned after doing so excited them! Apparently, it was a fossil. To be specific, it was a large turtle shell.

The craziest thing is that this discovery was linked to another discovery that happened at the same time on the other side of the world!

A Michigan Man

This was happening all the way in Argentina at the same time that a farmer by the name of James Bristle made an amazing discovery of his own. He lived on a farm in a small Michigan town when it happened.

The two farmers in the article do not know each other. However, the two of them were going to come together after making comparable discoveries around the same time!

Digging In

James had been looking for the best place to install a natural gas line on his property. He decided that it was none other than a soy field on the property that hardly saw any action. The farmer began to work on it.

If you plan to make a natural gas line, you will have to dig a lot. However, he had no idea what he would find there.

Using Proper Equipment

He started to dig for the installation of the natural gas line. In order to do this, he had to bring over heavy-duty digging equipment. Specifically, he needed a backhoe.

It was not going to take a short time, but he was determined to wrap it up by October.

On A Time Crunch

After all, he knew it was going to be inconvenient if he was not done by the time snow started to fall. However, he hit a hard object when he used the backhoe!

He knew he needed to work quickly if he wanted to figure out what this mystery object was.

Hitting Something Hard

He knew that the soy field had fertile and soft soil without deep roots or large rocks. This is the reason he was so surprised to feel the backhoe come into contact with a hard object.

James was so curious that he ended up getting out of the machine to check what was there. He began to dig using his hands until he felt the smooth and hard object. There was no way it was a root or a stone.

Way Too Big

James carried on doing this until he cleared the mud around the object. After cleaning the area, he saw that it was a bone! What made it so interesting was that he had never seen a bone like this before.

To him, it looked a lot like a rib bone. However, the size of it indicated that it came from a creature much larger than the ones they normally saw in the area.

Back In Argentina

Let us see what the other farmer has been up to. The researchers learned what the strange object they found in Jose’s place was. Are you ready to feel amazed?

It was around when the dinosaurs were here!

Curiosity Got The Best Of Him

It was so big that he knew it did not come from a horse or a cow. His curiosity overpowered him, so he started digging around some more.

Jose had no idea that he was going to stumble into a fossilized shell of the armadillo-like creature called a glyptodon when he went on a walk that Christmas morning.

Meanwhile In Michigan

In Michigan, the excavation went on for yet another day.

Everyone was astonished when they found a second bone on the property! It was also huge. In fact, the object was a lot longer than the one James found first.

An Archaeological Site

They were digging 10 feet into the ground by then! What started out as a trench for a natural gas line eventually turned into an archaeological site.

The news of the discovery sent everyone in town abuzz with excitement. News outlets also heard of it.

The Word Got Out

We all saw what happened in the small town in Argentina. The same thing happened in the small town in Michigan. Rumors and theories about the bones started to pop up left and right.

There was even a popular rumor that it came from a monster that been buried there a long time ago…

Something Unbelievable

When they found a huge skull in the area, everyone felt confused. What they found came with tusks attached to it! Incredibly, it was as long as an entire human being.

Everyone wanted to find out how an elephant made it all the way to a farm in Michigan.

A Phone Conversation

James quickly learned that he was out of his depth in this situation. This is the reason he reached out to a professor at the University of Michigan. He knew that Daniel Fisher could help.

After all, he was the director at the Museum of Paleontology at the university.

Time To Begin

They spoke on the phone first. The following day, the professor showed up at the site with a group of students. We are sure they were thrilled to spend the day digging!

Together with some of his students, Daniel Fisher arrived at the site.

A Thrilling Discovery

They were filled with excitement when they found out what the bones were. They also determined the time period they came from. It turns out that a woolly mammoth had been buried there the whole time. They were amazed to find it intact.

Their Brilliant Idea

Finally, they came up with a brilliant plan to get the bones out of there without inflicting any damage.

With the use of an excavator, straps could gradually lift the skull from 10 feet deep into the ground! After doing this, they could finally get the bones assessed and cleaned.

With Bated Breath

A crowd got together there to watch as the ginormous skull was lifted from the ground before it was then placed onto the truck flatbed.

They almost succeeded with this risky attempt when something unfortunate happened…

Almost An Accident

As they were putting it on the truck flatbed, one of the straps holding onto it snapped all of a sudden! Everyone in the crowd let out a gasp.

After this, they managed to get the skull on the truck bed. It was driven off to the museum, where they could examine it some more.

The Mysteries Keep Opening Up

A tusk had been inches away from crashing into the truck, but the other straps supported it enough to stop that from happening.

Who would have thought that they had yet to learn the biggest surprise?

A Lot In Common

The entire situation was definitely strange. Isn’t it incredible that two farmers from very different areas found something similar at the same time?

Just how much of the entire ordeal was a mere coincidence? In order to understand the situation, it is important to learn the history of these findings.

Around The World

Argentina is not the only place where people have discovered glyptodon shells.

Over the past century, they have been uncovered on nearly every continent in the world. The remains of the curious creatures have been found in places like Australia, China, and Antarctica. Just what are they?

Meet The Glyptodons

Glyptodons were fascinating creatures that boasted of amazing defensive capabilities. There is some reason to believe that they were the strongest creatures roaming the earth when they were still alive.

These things were also durable and tough, which made them perfect for protection against their predators.

Learning More

After more research, they learned that Glyptodons were around at the same time as humans. In fact, some believe humans caused their extinction.

The shells on their backs could be compared to tortoise shells.

Human Hunters

Their shells were enough to keep them safe from most predators. They became targets of human hunters, however.

The size of such a shell made it an accessible and perfect form of protection against cases of terrible weather.

A Modern Iteration

Even though sketches of these animals bear a physical resemblance to tortoises, glyptodons actually had more similarities with armadillos.

Both of them are land-dwelling mammals with long snouts as well as bony coverings atop their heads.

From Prehistoric Times

They originated from South America, although they eventually made their way to Guatemala.

It was most likely that the one they found in Argentina died or got stuck in riverbank after getting covered by wreckage from a storm.

How About The Mammoth?

After the mammoth was taken to the University of Michigan, the team found some exciting things during the investigation.

Aside from excavating the bones, they dated them so that they could be put on display in a museum. However, just how did the mammoth get to the area in the first place?

Incredible History

Even though the body was no longer there, the shell did not go anywhere thousands of years later. Now, what about the Michigan mammoth?

They sorted through the tusks they found on the property.

From South America

The theory holds that the Mammoths originated from South America before they moved out. They eventually disappeared about 11,700 years ago.

In reality, this one was not the only Mammoth discovered in the state. As a matter of fact, there have been 30 found there already. However, the discovery James made was the biggest of its kind.

Finding Human Handprints

During their research, the team learned that human hands have gone over the skeleton at some point.

Giving It Away

The discovery of the Mammoth bone came as a shock to everyone involved, but James did not have any use for what he found on his property.

Once In A Lifetime

Both findings also gave people from all over the world the chance to learn more about the prehistoric ages.

James and Jose were both simple farmers who made an incredible property on their properties. In the end, they ended up joining the ranks of the best archaeologists the world has ever seen!

Two Unbelievable Discoveries

We cannot deny that a huge distance separated the two discoveries we talked about. Despite this, they both revealed fascinating things about the history of the areas they had been found in!

It might be a good idea to start digging in your backyard as well. After all, who knows what might be lying directly under your feet at this given moment?