Sunday, June 16, 2013

Mammoth Site


Located near Hot Springs, SD, Mammoth Site is the world's largest mammoth research facility.



This was the site of a 60-foot deep sinkhole 26000 years ago. The mammoths were attracted by the warm spring, slipped in, and couldn't get back out.



The site was discovered fairly recently - in 1974.



Sixty mammoths have been found here in this tiny area!



We had a short tour where the guide used the kids to demonstrate the size of the bones. This is a femur - upper leg bone.



And this is a jaw bone! Of course these are replicas, so I guess they weren't very heavy...



There was a nice museum, in the same building as the dig site. It was definitely worth the visit. It reminded me of the Ashfall Fossil Beds, which I visited in 2010, but their site was 12 MILLION years old. That post is here.



THE END!

8 comments:

  1. Just read on this post that you visited Ashfall....I live just a few miles to the west of there on Hwy 20. Must not have been reading your blog back in 2010. Hope you enjoyed my part of the country.

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  2. That's a really interesting place - I need to put it "on my list."

    I hope you and Phil are having fun!

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  3. Excellent and interesting post. Thank You!

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  4. I may be in SD this summer, so especially enjoying your posts from there now.

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  5. And here I was expecting to see the greatest, largest RV pull through known to mankind! ;c)

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  6. Looks like a fascinating museum. I've been interested in mammoths since watching the documentary on the excavation of a relatively intact one in Siberia many years ago.

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  7. Ah, the poor Mammoths! That does look like an interesting place.

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