Mastadon bones found in backyard

PORTLAND, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - An excavator turned into an archaeologist after he dug up a prehistoric find in a backyard pond.

"As he got closer to look at his said, this is a bone, this is a bone," said homeowner Annette Schneider. "And we're just like, whoa, I've never seen a bone that big before."

The excavator found a number of old bones when he was dredging a pond in Portland, near Lansing, one of the bones measured almost six feet.

It didn't take long to figure out that these were no ordinary bones. The family called out a professor who confirmed that the bones actually belonged to a mastadon, which lived between 10,000 and 13,000 years ago.

The family is donating the bones to the University of Michigan museum.