At one time, Mercer County was home to a diverse spread of prehistoric wildlife. Among these were wooly mammoths, dire wolves, saber-tooth tigers, and sloths that stood 12-feet tall on their hind legs. While most of these beasts died away and became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene epoch about 11,700 years ago, one animal that survived the dramatic temperature changes between the Pleistocene and the Holocene was the elk (cervus canadensis).

In November 1981, evidence of these prehistoric elk was recovered at Cranberry Prairie in Mercer County, Ohio. While installing a plastic drainage pipe, local Ron Schweiterman discovered the nearly complete skeleton of an elk about 3 feet under the plow zone. The following spring, the skeleton was removed and analyzed by professionals of the Ohio Historical Society.

While excavating the elk, they noticed a defined hole in the left scapula (shoulder blade) of the animal. Further research showed that it was an unhealed wound caused by an early Archaic hunter. Examination of the

injury and the surrounding area led historians to believe that the hunter likely shot the elk with an arrow, causing the beast to flee into a pond that covered the area 9,000 years ago. The elk, severely injured and exhausted from being pursued, likely became trapped in the mud where it died.

Today, the elk’s antlers can be found at the Mercer County Historical Society, mounted on the wall in the Riley House’s front office. Stop in to visit your Mercer County Historical Society (Riley House) museum at 130 E. Market St. in Celina, Ohio. We are open Monday and Friday 9-5. Admission is free.