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Mammoth Site- Their official website here Mammoth site is an interesting place because it came about by accident. The site was actually in the process of being developed in 1974 by a developer who was getting ready to build a housing development. The earth moving equipment exposed the bones of what looked to the operator like a large dog bone. On further inspection, the first of the tusks was exposed and the developer realized that this was a major scientific find. The developer sold the land to a non-profit group at the same cost that he bought it (nice guy) and the group started an archeological/ palentological dig site. Today the site is about (they expect) about 40% complete, and they have unearthed 153 juvenile male mammoth skeletons. The site is unique because all the remains are of male mammoth, and they are REALLY well preserved comparatively. They have also unearthed the remains of some fairly unique creatures including a giant short faced bear. When standing erect, this bear could reach up to 15 feet in the air.
This is one of the more complete skeletons in the dig. Note the ongoing work. This is a working dig site, so there is equipment and tools all around, not to mention the volunteers that work the site. This is a very popular site for volunteers because the site is completely enclosed, so there is no environmental impact from heat, cold, rain, etc.
These males then wandered around and came upon this oasis of water (in the winter especially) that was just out of reach. They would approach and slip in because of the steep banks of the sinkhole and after falling in they would drown or starve. (more on that here)
The skull (near the orange flag) is from a short-faced bear. The bones are from a mammoth.
The two indentations are mammoth molar imprints. The scale here is hard to tell. Those imprints are larger than my shoes.
Mammoth legbone. Notice scale with the spoon nearby.
They can tell the way the sinkhole filled in by the strata which change with violent disturbance on the surface. They believe that this sinkhole filled in over the course of several hundred (possibly a thousand or more) years.
This is a scale replica of a mammoth. They could be 13 or more feet tall at the shoulder.
This is a recreation of a mammoth bone/ tusk/ hide dwelling that was made by the native people at the time when these mammoths roamed the area. Some of these bones would be collected and some hunted.
Just kicking back! |
