The Hot Springs Mammoth Site is celebrating its discovery 50 years ago this month with Mammoth Days, which wrap up today at the Mammoth Site on the west side of Hot Springs.
There’s a full day of activities from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm, highlighted at 3:00 by dedication ceremonies for the new Lang Family Dig Building
Up first is an Atlatl throwing competition with a $5 entry fee, 3 age brackets, and prizes from sponsor Liv Hospitality. The 10-13 year old age group competes at 9:00, followed by the 14-17 year old bracket at 11:00, and competitors 18-and-up at 1:00.
There are bounce houses and food trucks from 10:00 until Mammoth Days ends with a beer garden and Street Dance from 6-8:00 with music by Wild Blu.
Mammoth Site COO and Business Manager Presston Gabel says today is a time to remember how it’s has grown from humble beginnings as a housing development under construction to a world-renowned paleontological dig site and museum
Gabel says it “isn’t just a celebration of the past but a testament to the ongoing journey of discovery as we look to the future and continue educating the general public about the last Ice Age.”
The Mammoth Site was discovered in June 1974 when site preparation work for a housing development unearthed bones, one of which the heavy equipment operator’s son – a student at Chadron State College – recognized as a mammoth tooth.
He contacted his professor, Dr Larry Agenbroad, who confirmed the discovery – which by then included a full mammoth skull. Agenbroad went on to become one of the leading mammoth experts in the world.
Land developer Phil Anderson donated the site and a non-profit organization was created, and it was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1980.
The bonebed was enclosed in the mid-1980s by a structure that includes bone preservation and research areas as the Mammoth Site has become the biggest mammoth research center in the world..
Over the past 50 years, more than 60 mammoths and 87 other late Ice Age species have been discovered in the bonebed at the Mammoth Site..