New York man finds mastodon jaw while gardening in his backyard

SCOTCHTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — Scholars are hailing the discovery of a fossilized mastodon jaw discovered by a man who spotted two giant teeth while gardening at his upstate New York home this year. Officials from the New York State Museum say the mastodon jaw and some other bone fragments were found in late September in a backyard near the hamlet of Scotchtown, about 70 miles northwest of New York City. Museum officials say the owner of the backyard does not want to be identified. Further excavation at the site yielded a well-preserved jaw of an adult mastodon as well as a piece of a toe bone and a rib fragment.