Mammoth Site — August 20, 2014

When it looked like it might rain on us during the night on the evening of August 19, we decided to check into a motel.  Next morning, we visited the Mammoth Site, a museum and paleontological site near Hot Springs, South Dakota. It contains the remains of fauna and flora preserved by entrapment in a karst sinkhole during the Pleistocene era 26,000 years ago, including Columbian & woolly mammoths, camels, wolves and giant bears.

In 1974, a construction worker, George Hanson, unearthed unusual bones while the area was being prepared for a new subdivision. His son recognized one of the finds as a mammoth tooth. The landowner agreed to further investigation, and a complete skull and tusk were found in 1974. Donations, some made by local citizens, along with the work performed by amateur and professional excavators, led to its status as a museum. 

The site has been totally enclosed and is still being actively (but slowly and carefully) excavated by trained volunteers supervised by scientists.  An adjoining exhibit hall displays full-sized replicas of mammoths, a giant short-faced bear and a walk-in mammoth bone shelter.  When Barb and Jeff finally pulled me away — I enjoy reading ALL of the text at ALL of the displays — we drove up to Wind Cave National Park.  Stay tuned for that account.