Mammoth Dig Still Yielding Valuable Information

Digging continues at the Mahaska Mammoth location. There are still a couple of opportunities this year to dig. If you are interested in your group or company being a part of a dig, contact Laura DeCook with Mahaska County Conservation for more information.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – Frost may be nippin’ at the trees, but the digging continues at the Mahaska County farm where at least three Wooly Mammoths have been discovered.

Mahaska County Naturalist Laura DeCook was there this past week, continuing the discovery process. Small fragments of bone are being extracted along what scientists say was a stream bed. This summer has yielded less in dramatic visual discoveries like tusks and skulls, but the site continues to share its secrets with scientists about what Iowa was like 13,000 years ago.

The ancient stream bed is believed to have carved through the bone layer, resulting in the pile of rocks and shattered bone fragments. “It picked up bones and pieces of bones, and it all got tumbled in this flood,” said Dave Brenzel of the Indian Creek Nature Center. Brenzel has been working at the site since the earliest days.

A few months ago, ground penetrating radar was once again utilized to help locate where points of interest may be. That data is yet to be analyzed and applied to the site. For now, the digging continues as the exploration continues. Volunteers will be digging deeper into the site, towards a bedrock layer, in an effort to better define the site.

With the big glamorous discoveries not happening at the same pace as before, the question will eventually come up as to when the dig will come to an end.

Brenzel, who is a major part of the Giant Sloth dig in Iowa as well, said that a few geologists may be able to help give some guidance on where to dig in the future. That, along with the radar data, may lead to future discoveries.

“We’re not seeing anything right here for the first time in 3 years because we don’t have this big, wide, highway of bones leading us, telling us where to dig next,” said Brenzel.

Brenzel said that some of the groups that come out to dig may leave disappointed that they didn’t make the next great discovery, “But knowing where it isn’t is as important as knowing where it is.”

Brenzel believes, from his own experience with the Giant Sloth dig, that when things seem to be coming to an end, another discovery will be just around the corner. “Just when things started looking dim, we found 2 more sloths and the only baby sloth that had ever been found with an adult sloth; and then a fourth sloth.”

“The site is magical,” says Brenzel. “It’s already a miracle that they’re here and that we found it.”