A paleontologist discovered a frozen bison for 50,000 years. Then he stewed him to eat it with vegetables

Almost half a century ago, in the middle of the Summer of 1979the American paleontologist Dale Guthrie received one of those calls that accelerate the pulse of any fossil lover like him. Some miners had found close to Fairbanks, in Alaska, which seemed to be part of the body of a bison of the ice age. At least that was what suggested the confusing knead of hooves, legs and skin that had peeked between the mud while the operators were looking for gold.

Years after that call (and after intense work through) Guthrie and his colleagues celebrated the one who has probably been one of the most delusional banquets in the history of humanity: a stew with flesh of 55,000 years.

What the hell is this? Something such that Walter Roman and his family have to think about the summer of 1979, when they discovered in a mine north of Fairbanks (Alaska) something that little or nothing had to do with the gold they were looking for.

While working in the area they realized that something appeared between the frozen land: the remains of what seemed like a Ancient ancient creature of tens of thousands of years. They were so surprised that they warned of the finding and the news ended up arriving at Guthriepaleontologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF).

Something better than gold. Guthrie had to drive about an hour On gravel roads to get to the Roman mine, but the effort was worth it. Once there he observed what they looked like muscle tissues, bones and black hair, the remains of an ancient semi -soured steparia creature between the ice.

“Roman’s finding was a novelty for both. He had found an authentic mummy, an exceptional event,” I would report Years later Guthrie in one of his books. The body had peeked thanks to the force of the hose with which the miners worked, powerful enough to remove part of the frozen mud, but not to completely release the body. Seeing him Guthrie decided to finish the task to prevent the meat from breaking down.

With you, the Bison Priscus. The paleontologist concluded that what he had before him was a Bison Priscusan exceptionally well -preserved steparium bison if you take into account that tens of thousands of years had lived. Unfortunately, not everything was good news. Ice accumulations prevented removing the body quickly. And the summer heat played against him.

To get out of trouble Guthrie took A decision Worthy of King Solomon: he waited for a large part of the body to appear, cut what could be preserved in one of the powerful freezers of the UAF and then excavated the rest of the body that was still embedded in the icy mud, which included the head and neck of the animal. When he had all the pieces he assembled them with the help of a specialized taxidermist.

Not just that. As it details An article Published in 1986 in the Magazine of the University of Alaska (UA), the researchers were responsible for preserving the bones, hairs, insects, wood fragments and plants … any fragment that would be hidden among the ice, however insignificant, to rebuild the last instant of the life of the bison. For that same reason, the geology of the area analyzed in detail, in addition to the orientation and position in which the body was.

Once the work was completed they baptized the animal ‘Blue Babe’.

Why ‘Blue Babe’? For a double wink. The first, to the coloration that acquired the body for the chemical reactions that occurred during the excavation. The body was covered with a layer of Vivianita that, when exposed to the air, acquired a bluish hue. The second is a reference to American folklore: Blue Babe It is the name of the blue ox that accompanies Paul Bunyan, a popular US and Canada figure, a strong and large lumberjack.

A bloody story. So far the funniest part. What Guthrie and his colleagues discovered (in the excavation His wife also participatedMary Lee) when examining the body was much less enjoyable. On the back they found brands of claws and teeth that led them to conclude that Blue Babe was killed by a Panthera Leoatrxan extinct and related feline with the African lions.

The beast opened the side of the bison, killing and leaving exposed vertebrae, ribs and muscles that later were responsible for devouring other carnivores. A first radiocarbon dating of a skin fragment led them to think that this event occurred some 36,000 yearsalthough subsequent studies have proven that they fell short and traced it to 50,000 years.

Much more than a fossil. He Panthera Leoatrx And the rest of the beasts who participated in the bloodthirsty Festin were not the only ones who put the vote at the coast of Blue Babe. When examining the body the scientists found out something else, that the bison died towards autumn or winter, which favored the body to cool quickly and ended up freezing before their 50,000 -year -old dream.

Your state of conservation It was so extraordinarily good That the paleontologists found blood coagulated in the skin, bone marrow, fat … and something else: they found that the muscle tissue that the lion and rest of the beasts had not realized had a color and texture very similar to that of fresh meat.

So, why treat it the same?

“A small part of the neck”. “All of us who worked on this had heard the stories of the Russians who excavated things like bison and mammoths at the north end and were frozen enough to eat them,” He came to confess Guthrie in statements collected by Obscure atlas. “So we said: ‘Do you know what we can make’ prepare a meal with this bison ‘.” No sooner said than done. The paleontologist and his colleagues decided to try a piece of one of the best preserved parts of Blue Babe, the neck.

The banquet was held in the spring of 1984, when the work was already topped. “To culminate and celebrate the work of Eirik Granqvist (the taxidermist), we organize a dinner with bison stew for him and (the paleontologist) Bjorn Kurtenwho gave a conference as a guest “, Guthrie recalls.

“A small part of the mummy’s neck was cut in dice and cooked over low heat in a pot with broth and vegetables,” he says. Maybe it sounds crazy, but the anecdote appears collected in trials such as ‘Food History Almanac’, abundant articles And even in A review of the university where Guthrie worked.

And how did I know? That is the most fascinating. The gastronomic experiment did not seem to go wrong at all. “The meat was well cured, but still a little hard, and gave the stew a strong pleistocene aroma, but no one there would have dared to miss it,” I would report Later the paleontologist at that dinner dispatched in Alaska in April 1984 with “A good Burgundy”. “A dozen we meet to taste a stew of Bison Priscus. The taste was delicious. “

And if there were doubts, Guthrie insists: “None of us suffered any adverse effect after food.” In fact he died 40 years later, In 2024after a long professional career in which he continued to expand the horizon of paleontology. Thanks to his work today we can marvel with the mummy of Blue Babe, exposed in a museum of the UAF, but also get an idea of ​​how a stepario preserved for tens of thousands of years.

“When it was defrosted, an unmistakable aroma of beef, mixed pleasantly with a slight smell of the land in which it was found, with a touch of mushrooms,” evoked Before putting a couple of slices in the casserole.

Images | Bernt Rostad (Flickr) 1 and 2 and Ashwini Chaudhary (Monty) (UNSPLASH)

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