WOW!!

THIS IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING...NO OTHER WORDS TO DESCRIBE IT!! YOU KNOW WHEN SOMETHING JUST TAKES YOUR BREATH AWAY?
THERE HAVE BEEN MANY "MASTODON" FOSSILS HERE IN ALASKA....( YOU CAN LOOK IT UP ON WIKIPEDIA AND IT CLEARLY STATES THEY WERE IN ALASKA AS WELL AS OTHER PLACES )....I HAD NO IDEA WHAT ON EARTH A MASTODON WAS....IT IS SIMILAR TO A WHOLLY MAMMOTH....I PUT THIS PICTURE I FOUND ON THE INTERNET OF ONE ON THE TOP OF THIS POST. SO MANY FOSSILS HERE ARE SO WELL PRESERVED DUE TO THE FREEZING COLD ARCTIC TEMPERATURES....THE GROUND NEVER THAWS--IT SHIFTS..THAT IS WHY ALL THE HOUSES ARE BUILT UP ON LITTLE "STILTS"..I INCLUDED ONE PICTURE THAT MONICA TOOK AS AN EXAMPLE. MANY PEOPLE HAVE FOUND MASTODON TEETH....IN FACT SOME ARE AVAILABLE AT THE GIFT SHOP IN NOME (FOR A VERY HIGH PRICE)......SO MANY THINGS FOUND HERE I THOUGHT YOU ONLY SAW ON TV ON SOME NATIONAL GEOGRAFIC CHANNEL. ANYWAY, I TELL YOU ALL THAT TO TELL YOU THIS!!!!! A GENTLEMAN STAYED WITH IRAN AND I BEFORE CHRISTMAS BECAUSE HE COULD NOT GET BACK HOME TO THE VILLAGE OF BREVIG MISSION BECAUSE ALL THE PLANES WERE GROUNDED DUE TO WEATHER. I GET THIS LITTLE PACKAGE SOMEONE FROM BREVIG CARRIED ON THE PLANE INTO NOME AND SAID IT WAS FROM THIS GENTLEMAN THAT STAYED WITH US. THIS IS WHAT THE NOTE READ........"JUST WANTED TO SEND YOU A LITTLE SOMETHING TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR HOSPITALITY LAST MONTH. THE SKRIM SHAW ON PART OF A MASTODON TUSK WAS DONE BY ELMER SEETOT FROM BEVIG. THE TUSK CAME FROM OVER THE YUPIK RIVER WHERE I MOOSE HUNT." OH MY GOODNESS, WHEN I SHOWED THE OFFICE STAFF THEY COULD NOT GET OVER HOW STUNNING IT WAS, AND THEY ARE NATIVE ALASKAN, COULD NOT BELIEVE THIS GENTLEMAN GAVE IT TO US!! WHAT A TOTALLY UNEXPECTED BLESSING!! IT LOOKS LIKE IT CAME RIGHT OUT OF A MUSEUM!! WOW! OH...AND "SKRIM SHAW" IS WHAT CARVING/SKETCHING ON IVORY IS CALLED.