James Ackerman October 17th, 2015
Earth Science Current Event 1
Geggel, By Laura. "Ice Age Mammoth Bones Discovered on Michigan Farm." LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 09 Oct. 2015. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.
Laura Geggel’s article,”Ice Age Mammoth Bones Discovered on Michigan Farm” was actually very interesting. Two Michigan farmers were just working in their crop field when they discovered the bones of an Ice Age Mammoth. After this discovery the two farmers notified scientists who came to their farm and held an excavation and analysis project on the mammoths bones. "We think that humans were here and may have butchered and stashed the meat [in a pond] so that they could come back later for it," said Daniel Fisher, a University of Michigan paleontologist. The excavation and analysis results showed that the mammoth was a male. According to the Detroit Free Press,” Farmer and property owner James Bristle found the mammoth on Sept. 28 while he was installing a drainage pipe at his farm near Ann Arbor with his neighbor Trent Satterthwaite.” The first bone discovered by the farmers was about 3 feet long. That bone was later determines as a pelvis of a mammoth. James Bristle contacted Michigan University and they supplied paleontologists. The paleontologists estimated that the mammoth lived around 11,700-15,000 years ago. Not all bones were found. This brings up the idea of humans being there as well as mammouths. The team discovered three boulders the size of “basketballs” next to the mammoths bones. Fisher believes that it is probable that humans were there and preserved the mammoth by placing boulders on the dead animal to sink and preserve it in a lake.”The researchers also found a small stone flake near one of the tusks. Ancient people may have used the stone flake as a cutting tool”, Fisher said.”The new finding is one of about 300 mammoths and 30 mastodons discovered in Michigan, Fisher said. These discoveries are important and fascinating and have an important effect on society.
Although James Bristle is just a farmer in Michigan, his discovery along with many others is important to our society today. “These prehistoric creatures once roamed North America, before going extinct about 11,700 years ago.” The more we excavate and analyze these bones the better understanding we have not just of the animals but the earth as well back then. These bones show more than just the animals themselves, they show how humans worked as well. For example, “the researchers also found a small stone flake near one of the tusks. Ancient people may have used the stone flake as a cutting tool, Fisher said. The neck vertebrae are also arranged in anatomical sequence, almost as if someone had "chopped a big chunk out of the body and placed it in the pond for storage," Fisher said. This gives scientists and historians more information for that time period resulting in them gathering more information on how people and animals lived on earth back in that time. The more discoveries people make like this, the more society learns about what went on back before civilizations were formed.
Laura Geggel’s article,”Ice Age Mammoth Bones Discovered on Michigan Farm” was a very interesting and enjoyable read. Laura Geggel came out strong with an intriguing topic sentence which caught my eye and made myself want to keep reading her article. Throughout Laura Geggel’s article she weaved in quotes from experts and scientists to keep the read interesting and informative. She would state facts and back them up with quotations from experts who were actually there at the site. Laura Geggel also differentiates the transition words she uses so she keeps the article non repetitive. One weakness in this article was that there weren’t enough pictures. There was only one picture on the article. To improve this article more pictures should be included. Overall I believe Laura Geggel wrote a very solid article.
James critique was very well done. The flow of the article worked well. In addition, he made use of the article by placing quotes in his critique and being able to analyze them. Furthermore, he was able to relate his whole critique to the main point of this article.
ReplyDeleteI found it pretty interesting that the mammoth bones just happened to appear in Michigan and that hypothetically humans placed boulders on top of the bones to preserve them in the lake. The amount of knowledge the two scientists were able to take away from this discovery was absurd. For example, the discovery of the stone flake; they believe it was used as a tool in the past.
The one thing I would suggest to James is that he should try to not beat around the bush and use filler sentences.
I read James’ review of the article called ”Ice Age Mammoth Bones Discovered on Michigan Farm”. In the review James did a good job of critiquing the article. He included a lot of pros that show the author did a good job of writing the article. In the review james also did a good job of writing with flow. The review was written with good words and the transitions were descriptive, as well as smooth. Finally, James did a good job of writing the summary. He included many important facts and ideas from the author which helped the reader understand the author's ideas. Overall, James did a good job of writing the article.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I was amazed at was that the pelvis bone of the mammoth was over three feet long. This can give you a good idea of how big these animals were. I'm sure the bone was also quite thick which would have been amazing to see. Also, I thought that it was cool how the bone was just fount in the middle of this farm. It must be amazing to find such a random bone from a creature of the ice age, in the middle of your property.
This review of the article by James was good and interesting, but the review could have been better if James had just gotten to the point. He often added unnecessary sentence which made the article long and sometimes boring to read.