Mammoth Site, Hot Springs
| Mammoth Site | |
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 Map of South Dakota
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| Location | Hot Springs, South Dakota |
| Coordinates | 43°25′29″N 103°28′59″W / 43.42471°N 103.48313°WCoordinates: 43°25′29″N 103°28′59″W / 43.42471°N 103.48313°W |
| Designated | 1980 |
| Official website | |
The Mammoth Site is 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 era. Mammoth bones were found at the site in 1974, and a museum and building enclosing the site were established. The museum now contains an extensive collection of mammoth remains. Research and excavations at the site are ongoing.
About 26,000 years ago the cavern at the site collapsed. The resulting steep-sided hole, about 65 feet deep, was 120 by 150 wide at the surface. Warm artesian-fed spring waters created a pond that was attractive to wildlife. Findings at the site include the remains of megafauna such as Giant short-faced bears along with those of shrub oxen, American camel, llama, wolves, coyotes, birds, minks, ferrets, prairie dogs, voles, and moles.Invertebrate discoveries include several species of clams, snails, and slugs.
Over the course of the next 350 to 700 years, the hole filled with sediments and mammoth remains. The remains of the living organisms in the site are not technically fossils, since they were not mineralized but preserved by the clay and coarse sand that accumulated within the sinkhole. As of 2012, at least 61 individual mammoths had been identified. The majority of the mammoth remains have been identified as those of Columbian Mammoths, although the remains of three Woolly mammoths have been found as well.
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Wikipedia