Broome County Mastodon Bones: Binghamton’s Forgotten Ice Age Discovery

The only times I’ve ever seen mastodon bones have been at the Museum of the Earth in Ithaca and at the New York State Museum. They are the kind of thing you expect to see behind glass, with a museum label explaining that you’re looking at something from the Ice Age.

But did you know that historic accounts say that a mastodon was discovered in the Town of Lisle? That means an enormous animal related to, but different from, a mammoth once left its mark just north of Binghamton.

Mastodon Remains Were Found in Broome County’s Town of Lisle

A notice published in 1876 reported that mastodon remains had been discovered in Lisle, Broome County.

A later scientific history of Ice Age animals cited a U.S. Geological Survey report that placed mastodon remains a few hundred yards north of Center Lisle. According to that account, the bones were found in a boggy area where a spring emerged at the base of a gravel terrace. The report said it wasn’t clear whether the bones had washed out of nearby gravel or whether the animal had become stuck there long ago. You can read that description in The Pleistocene of North America, published in 1923.

Either way, it is pretty incredible to think about. A place that now feels like familiar Southern Tier countryside was once part of an Ice Age landscape where mastodons lived.

The Lisle Mastodon Discovery Included a Seven-Foot Tusk

The 1876 report described some truly massive pieces of the animal. It said the discovery included a tusk piece measuring seven feet, three inches long; another tusk piece; a 38-inch upper leg bone; one rib measuring 49 inches; 21 smaller ribs; and several vertebrae.

That’s not a tiny fossil someone might mistake for an old rock in the backyard. These were huge bones from a huge animal.

A 1900 local history, Broome County Illustrated, also described mastodon bones connected to Howland’s Glen in Lisle. The book said some bones were taken to Cornell while others were kept by a local resident named D. H. Millens.

The historic sources don’t give enough detail to prove whether every account refers to the exact same discovery, or to tell us where each local bone ended up. They do make clear that mastodon remains were found in the Lisle area and that the discovery was important enough to be recorded for generations.

Mastodons and Mammoths Weren’t the Same Animal

It’s easy to use “mastodon” and “mammoth” like they mean the same thing, but they don’t.

According to the New York State Museum, mastodons and mammoths were separate species. They looked somewhat alike, but mastodons had different teeth that were better suited for cutting and crushing woody plants.

The museum’s famous Cohoes Mastodon, which has been on display for generations, stood about eight and a half feet tall at the shoulder and measured about 15 feet long. The Lisle mastodon may not have been the same size, but that gives you a pretty good picture of the kind of animal that once lived in this part of New York.

Why Mastodon Bones Belong in New York History

New York has a surprisingly rich Ice Age story. Mastodon remains have been found in different parts of the state, especially in places where wetlands, ponds, and soft ground helped preserve bones for thousands of years.

The Paleontological Research Institution, which operates the Museum of the Earth in Ithaca, cares for fossil collections that help tell that much bigger story. It’s one reason seeing mastodon bones in a museum is so memorable. They make prehistoric life feel real in a way almost nothing else can.

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Broome County Has an Ice Age Surprise

So many things about Broome County feel familiar. The back roads, the woods, the creeks, the small towns, and the hills that seem to go on forever.

But underneath that familiar landscape is a history that goes back much farther than any of us can imagine.

A mastodon once lived near Binghamton, and people discovered its remains in Lisle. That's an amazing piece of local history, especially when you realize most of us expect to see something like that only in a museum.