Priceless ancient artifacts found in the stomach of a giant crocodile

What does a 750 pound alligator eat? Well almost everything I want but The elements found in the stomach of this Mississippi alligator are particularly resistant to hazards and date back thousands of years.

Shane Smith, owner of Red Antler Processing in the town of Yazoo, said he was examining the contents of a 13-foot, 5-inch alligator that weighed 750 pounds and discovered two unusual objects. We couldn’t identify, but the other was clearly a broken stone arrowhead.

The discovery was so unexpected that she hardly let the news get out.

“At first I thought, ‘I’m not going to post this on Facebook’ because nobody will believe it.” Smith told Clarion Ledger a local outlet.

Then he changed his mind.

“It’s too good not to post on Facebook”, noted. “This has probably never happened before. We have to publish this. “

The story began to unfold in April when a South Carolina wildlife processor reported slicing open an alligator’s stomach and finding unusual objects. Smith read it and was skeptical.

“Curiosity struck me when I saw an article online about someone who had found identity plates in the stomach of a crocodile” Smith said. “I’m one of those people who don’t believe in fake news.”

To satisfy this curiosity, Smith decided to examine the contents of the larger alligators he handled. The first was a 13-foot, 2-inch, 787-pound alligator picked up by Ty Powell of Columbia.

“We found a bullet inside and it had not been fired with a gun,” Smith said. “I don’t know how it got there ”.

The second crocodile he opened contained many things he found in the first one, including bones, hair, feathers, and stones. Then something else caught his attention.

“Everyone was on their feet like they were opening a Christmas present.”Smith said. “Somehow we’re putting all of this in a trash can.

“I looked and saw a stone with a different shade. It was the point of an arrow ”, he was counting excited.

Smith said he was stunned.

“It was just disbelief” Smith said. “There is no way he had an arrowhead. The first thing you think of is that a Native American ate or was shot in the stomach. “

However, Smith knew that was not the case.

“My best guess is that wherever you’ve picked up those other rocks you’ve got that Indian tip,” Smith said. “We joked about it and said I’m probably the only person on Earth who has pulled an arrowhead out of a crocodile’s belly.”

But the find was not only anecdotal, it ended up being of very valuable historical significance. This was determined by James Starnes, director of surface geology and surface mapping for the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, who reviewed a photograph of the tip. He calculated that it was made around 5000-6000 BC. vs.

“It is the last part of the ancient archaic and the first part of the middle archaic (periods)”, Starnes said. “The way the base is made is a real indicator for estimating the period of time.”

Starnes also pointed out that the object is not an arrowhead. It is a tip used in a first weapon that launches a spear using a second piece of wood with a cut on one end that acts as a lever to increase speed.

“It’s an atlatl dart point”, Starnes said. “People think all heads are arrowheads, but these (arrowheads) would be the points.”

As strange as the discovery was, it was about to get even stranger. Smith found a heavy teardrop-shaped object about four centimeters long. He and the hunter licensed to hunt the crocodile, John Hamilton of Raleigh, thought it was something more modern: a sinker used for fishing.

“It’s as heavy as lead”, Hamilton said. “It looks like it has two holes, but they don’t go through it.

“It has a small hole and a bigger hole at the top. I guess he goes in and out again ”, added.

Hamilton searched for the object online, but could not identify it.

Starnes said he is known as a in free fall and dates back to the end of the Archaic period, around 1700 BC. vs.

The weight is taken into account because It is made of hematite, an iron oxide that exchanges between the first groups and glows when polished. Starnes said the purpose of the falls is unknown.

“The falls, we really don’t know what they were used for”, Starnes said. “These things made sense, but we have no idea. One can only guess. “

Both articles are invaluable for their historical relevance. So how did these ancient artifacts get into the crocodile’s belly? It is quite a mystery.

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