Laura Young
ECB Publishing, Inc.
About 15,000 years ago, a mastodon now named “Priscilla” lived and foraged on cypress foliage around a series of sinkholes not far from modern-day Lamont, where the Aucilla River flows today. It likely was felled by Paleoindian hunters, its bones settling down in the water, where they lay preserved but hidden until a few short decades ago. How, then, did Priscilla end up in the Monticello Opera House Garden on Friday, Mar, 4, 2022, and the next week become the centerpiece of an outdoor classroom at Jefferson Somerset Charter School? Well...
In 1962-63, paleontologist Don Serbousek (1926-2010) found the mastodon skeleton while diving in the Aucilla River, and excavation of the amazing site began. In 1965, plaster casts were made of the immensely heavy bones (two tons!) so that Priscilla's likeness
could be recreated with lighter, more transportable materials and displayed in various educational venues.
Thus began Priscilla's tour. In one notable exhibit in the late 1990s, Priscilla made an appearance at the South Florida Fair as part of a “Twilight of the Pleistocene” exhibit that also included the skeleton of a giant sloth. Eventually, however, Priscilla was dismantled, and the pieces were stored with those of two other mastodons in the Serbousek collection in Volusia County, Fla. In 2020, Don's son, Ted Serbousek, donated the collection to the Aucilla Research Institute (ARI), and Priscilla's bones made their way via a G-Fast transport back to the land where they were formed, right here in Jefferson County.
As time drew near for ARI's 2022 First Floridians Series Conference, the push began for reassembling the pieces and giving Priscilla a new debut, this time at the Monticello 
Opera House (MOH), where the conference would take place. G-Fast CEO Richard Connell explains how he turned one of his helicopter hangars into a reconstruction workshop, where he and ARI Board Member Tom Harmon solved the Priscilla puzzle. Then it fell to Danny Woods, G-Fast's director of dive operations, to fabricate a metal support structure that would allow Priscilla's form to stand on a flatbed trailer and ride from the hangar to the display venue without breaking apart.
On Friday, Mar. 4, Priscilla was getting ready to be on the move as more than 100 scholars and history enthusiasts were walking in to MOH for the ARI Conference, entitled “Cultural Heritage, Natural Resources and Land Stewardship – the Significance of Apalachee, Chesapeake and Galveston Bays.” ARI Board Member Jack Carswell notes that around 300 more people participated in the conference sessions virtually, some from as far away as Egypt and Switzerland, as Friday's program of 13 speakers unfolded. In the afternoon, during a break between sessions, the announcement came that Priscilla had finally arrived! As one might imagine, it was not the usual garden party at MOH, with a special guest like Priscilla as the focal point.
As the ARI presentations continued with three more speakers on Saturday morning, conference-goers and members of the public enjoyed a number of exhibits on the lower level of MOH, including the chance to “Talk to a Mastodon.”
Later on Saturday, Priscilla rolled a few miles down Hwy. 19 to spend a week at the campus of Jefferson Somerset, where the lawn between Pavilion 10 and the practice courts became an outdoor classroom.
On Monday, Mar. 7, Dr. Willet Boyer, an associate scholar at ARI who also teaches at Jefferson Somerset, brought his 7th Period Cultural Geography class out to learn about Priscilla. Boyer described for his ninth grade students what their hometown area was like 15,000 years ago – grassier, with fewer trees and lower water levels. He explained how archaeologists today study ancient sites that take them deep into knowledge of the past and what they have learned about the life of the mastodons and Paleoindians who lived here long ago.
“This area where you live is famous all over the world for things like this mastodon,” said Boyer to his students. “Priscilla is going to go all over Florida, but we wanted to make sure that you guys, in the area where this was actually found, were the ones who had the chance to see it first.”
Jefferson Somerset Principal Cory Oliver commented about how profound is was to have Priscilla on campus. “Recognizing our local history is key to understanding where we come from,” he said. “Often times young people do not realize that the biggest puzzle piece in life to their success is the one they have been holding in their hand all along. I never realized how important home was to my development until I took time away. By the time I was in my late twenties, everything clicked. Sometimes we have to step outside the familiar to realize how important 'home' is to understanding our own identity. Having Priscilla the mastodon on our campus is such a powerful experience for young people, especially when they realize this animal came from right here in Jefferson County.”
What's next for Priscilla? ARI Executive Director Jana Grubbs says the institute will continue to use Priscilla for educational purposes. Before the next tour stop, though, a few finishing touches will be completed. Then Priscilla will be on the road again, bringing knowledge of the past into the present in a way that only a Monticello mastodon can.
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